Disclaimer: Not Mine. *really big sigh*
Okay, so here are the cliff notes: Silver handprints show up whenever alien powers have been used to to significant degree on a living object (Like Liz). Just like photos, they take a little while to develop. Liz probably hadn't had the handprint the last time she looked at her stomach. They last about twenty four hours. No, Alex and Maria are not a couple. I will detail more of their relationship later, but as you will notice, their friendship is very physical. Not sexual, but hugging, holding, leaning on each other, kisses on cheeks, ect., will be evident. Alex's friendship with Liz is also very close, but with much less proximity. In my story, Liz is a good person, and a good friend, but not particularly touchy-feely. Very CANDY, I know. I will at some points use other POV, but I really wanted to lay some groundwork the two main characters. Also, since the show spent a lot of time on Max and Liz, I wanted to focus on what we didn't see, like how Maria found the notepad, and Michael's POV in the desert. And, yes, I have removed the goofy little vials of oil. I sort of love that part of Maria's character on the show, but for the purposes of my story, Maria's "healing arts" will be a bit more low key. Don't worry, though. Grief Relief is just too good to skip. Watch out for it.
Through The Silvered Glass- Chapter 2
The First Emotion
As Michael drove toward the Evans' house, he tried to shake Max out of his daze. Using power like that was always tiring. Max had way more control than Michael, but this was still pushing it. As he'd turned the jeep in the direction of the Evans' home, Max continued to sit there, almost glassy eyed, with fear or shock or exhaustion, Michael couldn't tell which.
"Max." he said, taking his eyes briefly off the road to examine his friend.
No reply.
"Max! Yo! MAXWELL!"
"What?" Max asked, still looking sort of dazed.
"Call Izzy. We gotta make plans" We gotta run, Michael thought to himself. Even if by some miracle Liz did what Max had practically begged her to do, others in the restaurant still knew something was up. Those two alien crazed tourists for one. And the little blond waitress, for another. He just knew that little blond waitress was gonna be a problem. He had seen it in her eyes. She had trouble written all over her.
He heard Max on the phone with Izzy. By the time they pulled up in front of the Evans' home, Max had recovered sufficiently to move over into the driver's seat. As Izzy climbed into the back, Michael slumped over in the passenger's side of the jeep. He was finally coming down off the adrenaline high from the scene at the diner.
Izzy, however, was moving from the first stage, denial, to the second, full blown panic-stricken hysteria. In a pitch that would probably have dogs whimpering.
She started off calmer than Michael had expected. "I can't believe this Max. You know, I finally feel like I have a quasi-normal existence and you go and blow it all with one random act of lunacy."
Then, to Michael "How did you let my misguided brother do this?"
Michael bristled "Hey don't turn this around on me. I'm not the one who thinks he's a freaking super hero."
She was not gonna pin this one on him, oh no. Dealing with the fallout from his own screw ups was one thing, but what Max had done was on a whole new level of bad. Somewhere between Armageddon and a twenty-four hour Three's Company marathon.
Max rubbed his forehead. "Look, I said I was sorry."
At this point, Isabel was starting to lose her cool. "You're sorry? You break a sacred pact and that's all you have to say? It's against the rules Max, the rules we made!"
Max shouted back "You use your powers all the time."
"Recreationally!" She screamed. Michael could tell she was really struggling to collect herself.
"OK" she finally said. "The important thing is, to contain this. We just have to figure out what to say to Miss Scientist."
"And her friend" Michael added.
"Her friend!" Isabel cried.
"Yeah. The Blonde" Michael replied tersely. He scrunched down further in the passenger seat, hoping to get below the sight line.
"WHAT BLONDE!" Isabel screamed again.
"You know, the other one. The one with the green eyes." Maria, he thought to himself.
"Green eyes! My brother is revealing the secret of our existence to a roomful of people AND YOU ARE CHECKING OUT THE WAITRESSES?" Isabel was now in Deathcon 4 mode.
"Maria?" Max finally asked, sounding confused.
"Yeah. She was standing right there, probably saw the whole thing".
"Oh my God, Maria Deluca?" Isabel had starting pulling at her hair. "Maria drama-queen-of-Roswell High-Deluca?" She collapsed back into her seat.
"Omigod. I can't breathe! Can we hyperventilate? I just don't understand this. I'm a good person. I give to charity, I get good grades, I even feed stray animals. What did I ever do to deserve this?" She continued to glare daggers into the back of Max's head.
"I didn't have a choice." Max cried. "It's gonna be okay."
Michael could hear the fear in her voice "Don't you realize that everything has changed!"
"No, it hasn't." Max insisted.
Michael shook his head. The boy had a serious case of denial. "Max, she's right, we're screwed. It's time to leave Roswell." He could feel their eyes on him.
"Michael, we can't just leave." Max was shaking his head.
Michael was grim. "Yea we can. We've always known this day would come. We said when it did, we'd be prepared."
But he knew they weren't. They didn't seriously believe the day would come when their pretend lives would be exposed for the lies they were.
Isabel was almost crying now. "Michael, we can't just leave! Where are we gonna go? Roswell's our home."
Michael didn't even bother to try hiding the anger in his voice. It was time for these two to get a serious wake-up call. "Roswell's not our home. It's not even in our solar system."
Max remained unmoved by Michael's argument. "Well, this is the closest thing we have to home right now."
Michael kicked the dash in frustration. "For you two maybe, it was you the Evans found on the side of the road, not me. They're like real parents to you. My foster dad just keeps me around for the monthly check."
God, why didn't they understand? And why did he even bother to try to explain it anymore? They'd never understand. He doubted anyone ever would.
"This is gonna be OK. We should just lay low. Go back to school and… act normal."
Michael mentally amended his earlier thought. Max didn't just have a serious case of denial, he was king of his own country, and that country was called Denial. Michael was almost in awe of his ability to completely write-off the most dangerous thing that had ever happened to them. Excluding the crash, he assumed.
Isabel wasn't convinced by Max's platitudes either.
"Act normal? That's your big plan Max? Don't you realize it's only a matter of time before they find us and turn us over to some government agency where they're gonna test us and prod us, and, oh yea, EXTERMINATE US!"
As they continued down the highway, Isabel got a CD out of the cd case lying in the back floor board of the jeep. She always used music to tune out the world when it got to be too much. Soon the sound of some wailing teen pop princess filled the jeep.
Another minute of this crap, and Michael would consider turning himself in. After all, once you were dead, you were dead. Even the army didn't use this stuff on prisoners, it was like, covered under some treaty somewhere. He hated that pop shit.
Rubbing his forehead again, Max said "Isabel, could you please not do that?"
"Yea, like listening to a CD is the problem." Izzy snapped back.
"I couldn't just let her die." Max replied.
Michael had tuned both their arguing and Isabel's horrible music out. He needed to figure out a way to convince the Brady twins that it was time to hit the road. Immediately. As in yesterday.
Almost as if his thoughts had jinxed them, the sheriff's car pulled in behind them, flashers on.
"Is he pulling us over?" Isabel cried.
Michael wasn't one to look the obvious in the face. "Max go, let's get outta here." He wanted the hell out of dodge.
But Max was already slowing down to pull over. "We can't start acting guilty."
If guilty equals getting the hell out of Roswell, New Mexico, you better believe we can! Michael thought to himself. What was Max waiting for? Two weeks written notice from the goddamned FBI?
Looking back at him Max said "He always pulls kids over-he does it all the time. It's nothing."
"Yea, nothing." And a weather balloon crashed out here in the desert in 1947, Michael thought sourly.
The officer walked up to the driver's side of the jeep. They all recognized Sheriff Valenti. His eyes coolly surveyed the occupants of the jeep.
"Your license and registration please." The Sheriff said in a calm voice. Both Michael and Isabel had stiffened perceptibly.
"Of course, officer." Max's voice was just as calm. He handed the paperwork over to the Sheriff.
I guess having a major case of denial is good for some things, Michael thought distractedly.
After a moment the Sheriff handed the paperwork back to Max. "Thank you Mr. Evans. We had a little trouble at the Crashdown Cafe yesterday. You kids be careful out there."
Max swallowed. "Yes sir."
Oh, shit, Michael thought, he knows.
The Sheriff gave them all one last, long look, before straightening.
"Watch your speed. Arrive alive."
The three teens all nodded quickly in unison. We look like puppets on a string, Michael thought. Oh, no, nothing suspicious here, Officer.
"We will." The very calmness of Max's voice infuriated Michael. How many more close calls would they have to survive before the other two wised up?
Max went to re-start the jeep, but Michael grabbed the keys out of the ignition, facing the other two and scowling.
Max sighed.
"Michael, everything is gonna be okay."
Michael yelled back "No it won't. Our cover is blown. And I'm not gonna hang around and wait for them to catch us."
Max was so calm it made Michael crazy just to look at him. "No one is caught yet. I mean, we don't even know if there is a ''them''.
Michael could barely keep himself from punching the dash in frustration. "Then what happened to our parents? What happened to everybody else on the ship? They were killed, and you know that."
He couldn't understand why they didn't care. No matter how good their lives with the Evans' were, how could they not share his driving need to KNOW? To know who they were, were they came from. And why the hell they had been left in the desert to die like a litter of unwanted puppies, because either something had happened to their parents-or they had been purposefully left in the desert to die.
Looking directly at Michael, Max said "Liz won't tell anyone, she's different."
Narrowing his eyes at Max, Michael sarcastically replied "Really? So, you think tomorrow you just gonna walk into bio and she's gonna be all 'Great, you're an alien, that's fantastic.'? 'Cause I just bet those tourists at the Crashdown think it's really fantastic, Max. And don't forget Miss Maria "Motor mouth" Deluca."
Max only stared at Michael in silence.
Michael swallowed hard. "Yeah. Didn't think so."
He swung out of the jeep, and faced them.
"I'll leave. Without or with the two of you."
He tossed the keys onto the passenger seat he had just vacated. He stood there, for a moment just looking at Max and Isabel watching him. At some point during his tirade they had reached out to hold each other's hand.
They're always together, and I'm always alone, Michael thought. I'll always be on the outside. He turned to walk off into the desert.
From behind him he could hear Isabel say "Thought I was pissed."
Michael wandered the desert long after it got dark. He was actually trailing the highway on his right, but it was more than a mile over, almost completely out of sight. Michael didn't really need it for reference anyway. He had a naturally strong sense of direction, and the desert was familiar turf to him.
He wasn't exactly in a hurry to get home. Worst case scenario, the tin can he called home was being watched by the army, navy, FBI, and/or a reality TV crew. He shuddered. Nowadays, you couldn't always tell who the bad guys were. Even in the best case scenario, Hank would still be there, mean, mad, drunk and broke. And most likely blaming all of the above on Michael.
Michael knew he should be making plans to get out of Roswell, ASAP. In the jeep, he'd almost managed to convince himself that he'd meant what he'd said, about leaving Roswell with or without Max & Isabel. But when it came down to it, he just didn't have the guts. The last time they'd split, he lost them for more than two years as he'd bounced around the foster care system. He tried not to think about those years. He tried to let them be as much of a blank as the years before were. But seeing Isabel and Max holding hands in the jeep had made him think about it. Made him remember.
He must have been moving on alien-child auto pilot for a while. When he finally came to something like his senses, he was in a wide open space (or was it a place?). It was dark, and the ground felt gritty beneath his bare feet. He was near a large, tumbled pile of boulders, though, to his mind at that point, they had been nothing more than shadows laid upon shadows. He was afraid, but the fear itself was something new, the way everything was new. Maybe this was how he was always supposed to feel? Heart pounding, hands shaking, chest heaving.
Soft sounds behind him had quickly taught him a new emotion, panic. Reacting as instinctively as any desert animal, he had run to the shadows, hiding behind a boulder.
Out of the darkness came two others. Michael sensed they were like him, but not. They were two, and he was one. But they were like him, and they seemed to be looking for something. Him? Was he supposed to go to them? But they were a pair, and if he joined, they would no longer be two, and Michael sensed that somehow, their being two together was important.
And so he watched, for the longest time, he did nothing but watch as they stood there, holding hands. The long haired one seemed to be waiting for something, and the short haired one seemed to be looking at him, though he knew he was invisible in the shadows.
Eventually, he found his third emotion. Courage. Or perhaps recklessness. The line with him would always be thin. He decided to show himself, but on his own terms. Instinctively seeking the high ground, he climbed the next boulder, a taller one, and then stood, waiting for the two to see him. The short haired one saw him almost immediately, and he could see some slight fear in the other's eyes, as well as curiosity, and relief.
The long haired one glanced over her shoulder at him, catching his eyes long enough to smile. Her eyes had none of the surprise the boy's held, indeed, she looked as if she had been expecting him. She turned again to face forward, as the two boys continued to face each other. Suddenly deafening noise and light broke the nights quiet, and he faded back into the shadows to hide. The other boy seemed as though he would have liked to hide, also, but the girl was unafraid, waiting calmly. She held onto the boy's hand, and he knew the other boy would not leave her. As the lights came closer, the other boy held out his hand to him, his eyes pleading.
But his first emotion had been fear; it was his friend before the boy was. He turned and ran into the night.
"Running's what I do best." Michael muttered, to himself, before entering the trailer.
Maria's POV
Maria walked into the Crashdown the next morning feeling like she'd been run over by a truck. Mr. Parker greeted her from behind the counter.
"Hey Maria. You look like you didn't sleep too much last night. Still a little shook up from what happened yesterday?" He asked as he handed her a to go cup of coffee, half of which would be milk, just the way she liked it.
She just stared at him for a moment. Way more than you know buddy. She'd be lying to herself if she said she'd gotten even three hours of sleep.
"Lots of homework." She mumbled. "Is Liz down yet?" She was ready for a long, best friend heart to heart with one Lizzie Parker.
"Oh, I would have thought she'd have called you, Maria" he said, looking surprised. She went ahead and walked to school early. Something about meeting her biology partner"
Which would be-drum roll please! Max Evans, Maria thought to herself. "Yeah, your right, she takes biology pretty seriously." And she is soo avoiding me, Maria thought.
She shrugged "She probably did try to call, and I had just already left. Umm, Speaking of biology, I left my notes in the back, I better go grab them" She hurried into the backroom.
She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but she couldn't shake her feelings of unease. She knew something strange had happened yesterday, and Liz avoiding her this morning only reinforced those feelings.
As she looked around, she noticed Liz's locker cracked open. Shaking her head, she went over to shut it. Liz was way too careless of her things sometimes. She started to shut it, but something was shoved into the already full locker, stopping the locker from closing. She sighed. And Liz had the nerve to tease her about her messy locker at school! Opening the locker all the way, she raised her hand, preparing to push everything back in so she could latch it. However, when she saw what was preventing the locker from closing, her hand faltered.
She took a deep breath, and slowly lifted out the order pad. A familiar smell wafted over to Maria, over the scents of bacon and eggs, and she felt dizzy, closing her eyes for just a moment.
She opened her eyes.
The blood hadn't gone away.
"That's not ketchup" she whispered.
She needed to talk to Alex, right now. She shoved the order pad into her jacket pocket. Pushing open the backroom doors, she almost ran into Sheriff Valenti. He appraised her with a cool look.
"Ms. Deluca" He greeted her. "I was hoping to see you. I have a few more questions about what happened here yesterday."
"I have to go to school. I'm, ahh, gonna be late." She blurted out. The order pad in her pocket felt ten pounds heavier than it had a minute ago.
For a few seconds, they just stared at each other. Then, slowly he reached into his pocket. Maria tensed, visions of handcuffs crashing through her mind.
The sheriff handed her a card. She looked down at it. Like she needed a card to tell her how to get to the cop shop, she thought, her heart starting to slow.
"Why don't you come by after school, say, three thirty?" He gave her another long look.
She swallowed and nodded. "Uuuhhh, yeah, sure. OK, three-thirty."
Oh my God, she thought. She'd almost made it to the door when Mr. Parker called out her name.
"Maria!" She looked back at him. He smiled. "You forgot your coffee."
"Thanks" she said weakly. She headed out the door.
Must. Find. Alex.
Maria POV-Later that day.
Maria and Alex both had third period free, followed by lunch, and by that time Maria was almost hysterical.
"Alex" she pleaded "Please, please just listen to me, please" If he thought she wouldn't resort to tears to make her point, he was soo wrong.
"Maria, babe, it's all right here, in black and white". He gestured to the newspaper in front of him. "It says shots were fired, but no one was hurt. Look, I saw Liz last period, and she was fine. Bored, but fine."
Maria sighed. She knew she had to calm down; she had to act like Liz. Granted, Liz wasn't acting like Liz either, so how was she supposed to manage it…
Focus! She scolded herself.
"Alex. Something happened yesterday. I saw it. Liz was, was shot, and Max Evans ran up and did something to her. I couldn't see what, that Guerin kid wouldn't let go of me, but-"
"Michael Guerin?" Alex interrupted.
"Yeah. He wouldn't let me anywhere near Liz or Max. And she wasn't moving, and there was all this blood…"
"Maria, calm down. It wasn't blood, it was ketchup. And Max was just checking on her, that isn't really surprising, since he's been in love with her since, like, ever, and Liz probably just hit her head or something, and blacked out for a moment. That's why she was so still. Wait, Michael Guerin grabbed you?"
That's not ketchup on her order pad, Maria thought, staring into Alex's hazel eyes. She couldn't bring herself to say it aloud though. The pad was still in her pocket. She knew it was irrefutable evidence, that it would be all that was needed to convince Alex, but she just couldn't bring herself to show him. She had never intended to actually snoop in Liz's locker, but that was where she had found it, which meant she wouldn't show it to anyone, even Alex, until she had spoken to Liz.
She tried again, "Look, Alex, Liz is totally avoiding me. She walked to school rather than ride with me, in home room, she walked right past her normal seat next to me to go sit with Pam Troy, who she, like, hates and openly admits to hating, she wouldn't answer any of my calls last night, and she was even avoiding Kyle this morning, from what I've heard."
"Well, I avoid Kyle, too." Alex said, trying for a small joke.
"Alex" she sighed.
"Maria, just what do you think Max did, huh? Healed her with some secret alien super hero power?" He leaned in to hug her, leaning his forehead on her shoulder, and she leaned hers on his. "Maria, everything is fine. I promise"
"That's not what the Sheriff thinks" her voice was muffled into Alex's shoulder, but he must have heard her, because he straightened up, a confused look on his face.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
She looked at him for a moment, and then swallowed. "Alex, everyone in the diner heard that gun go off. Everyone. The police turned the diner upside down trying to find the bullet, or even a bullet hole. There was none. When the Sheriff asked Liz if she knew the two boys in Max & Michael's booth she lied." She paused.
"Alex, when the Sheriff asked me if I knew them, I lied too."
"Why?" he asked softly, leaning his forehead against hers.
"Because she did. Because it was Liz. Alex, the Sheriff is making me come in after school to answer more questions. He knows something's wrong. And Liz is in the middle of it. And now so am I."
Maria had gone to the music room after her conversation with Alex. She'd said she needed to pick up some sheet music for one of her sophomore showcase presentations, but more than anything, she needed a few moments to compose herself. Keeping secrets, even Liz's secrets, from Alex felt wrong.
As she was leaving the music room, she saw liz go into the girls bathroom down the hall. Now or never, she thought to herself, as she walked in, closing the door softly behind her. Liz hadn't noticed her arrival, she was at the sink splashing water on her face.
"Sooo", Maria began, noticing how badly Liz had jumped when she heard Maria's voice.
"I called like, 19 times last night."
"Yeah, about that..."Liz stammered.
"Why are you lying to me?" Maria asked bluntly.
"I'm not lying about anything. What are you talking about?" Liz argued.
"Let me set the scene, Liz. You, a bullet, Max Evans, and a bottle of Ketchup." She watched Liz.
"You said it yourself, Maria. It was just ketchup."
Slowly Maria drew the order pad out of her pocket. "This isn't ketchup, Liz" she said quietly.
"Where did you get that?" Liz asked, gasping. "Did you take my back pack too?"
But Maria wasn't listening to Liz's words; she was staring at Liz's stomach, where her sweater met the waist of her jeans. Except, when Liz moved, her sweater did too, just a little.
"Liz, what IS THAT?" She breathed.
"What?" Liz asked.
Walking over to her, she spun Liz around to face the mirrors, yanking her sweater past her navel. In the fluorescent lights of the bathroom, the silver handprint gleamed faintly.
Maria backed away, shaking her head. "Liz, the sheriff's called me in for more questions. Today, after school."
Liz stared at her with wide eyes. Then she swallowed.
"Maria, whatever you're thinking, it's not. OK? You just gotta trust me. You can't tell the sheriff about this! Please, promise me?"
Maria shook her head. "No. No more lies."
"It's not lying, Maria. No one's actually lying, we're just, omitting…"
"LIZ! You, you are lying, to me! I'm your best friend. You and Alex are the only two people in the world I trust in, and believe in, completely. And you're lying to me."
"Maria, Maria, just wait, okay. If you promise not to say anything about this to the Sheriff, I will tell you everything."
"Today. Tonight. Before the crash festival?" Maria demanded.
"Yes."