Ripple Effect
Sophia Conrad
Chapter 4: For The Ones We Love
"Promise me one thing, that you'll follow your heart wherever it takes you. Trust it."
- Claudia Parker
"It's October 19th. I'm Liz Parker and this is what I've been thinking. Can life ever go back to normal?
Part of me wants safety, wants to go back to how things were, to a life that I could predict, where I know how life is going to be. And the other part of me wants to go somewhere else, into the unknown."
The Crashdown was absolutely bursting with customers.
"It's crazy." Maria said, looking around at the hustle and bustle of the Crashdown's evening rush.
"It's an orthodontist convention." Liz told her, wiping down the counter as she went.
"Why would orthodontists want to meet in Roswell?" Maria asked, filling up a set of soda glasses and adding ice.
"That's a good question." Liz said, shrugging. They took the drinks to the booths and then retreated to the kitchen window.
"Uh, José. If Table 3 doesn't get their food, I swear they're going to attack." Maria warned him, eyeing Table 3 nervously.
"Busy ladies, very busy." He replied, flipping a set of burgers before moving around to add salad to one plate and lift the fries out of the oil and let them drain.
"Oh, my God. I forgot to tell you. Grandma Claudia is coming on Friday." Liz said suddenly, turning to Maria.
"I have been going through Grandma withdrawal. I just love Grandma Claudia." Maria squealed with delight.
"I know. She's like the basis of my existence." Liz replied, equally as happy.
"Table 6." José told them, intruding on their moment.
"Oh, great...thank you." Liz said, taking the dishes from him and scurrying off.
"José, what about me" Maria begged. José blew her a kiss in return, and she rolled her eyes. Liz arrived at Table 6 within seconds, still balancing the plates carefully.
"Here she is." One of the Orthodontists said, leaning back in his seat as he noticed Liz.
"Okay, gentlemen. I've got one Venus Meatloaf Platter. There you go. And two Trekkie specials. Enjoy your dinner. Oh, and your space fries will be right out." She told them smiling, eyes flickering to the door when Max walked in and took a seat at the booth.
"Uh, Miss... My colleagues and I were just appreciating your wonderful overbite." The man told her, shaking out a napkin as he spoke.
"Oh... well, thank you... that's a first actually." Liz said, not really sure what to say.
"Would you mind if we just take a look at your bite... for medical purposes." He asked her, very politely.
"Sure." She replied, opening her mouth for them and praying that she didn't have anything stuck in her teeth. The Orthodontists looked at her teeth admiringly.
"Magnificent." He remarked.
"Enjoy your dinner, gentlemen." Liz said, before making her way over to Max's booth.
"It's an orthodontist convention." She told him, noticing his questioning glance at Table 6.
"Apparently." He remarked, having seen her showing them her teeth.
"So, are you waiting for Michael?" Liz asked him hopefully.
"No, no." He said, and Liz had to hide her disappointment. Max scanned the menu before looking back up at her.
"I'll just have an Alien Blast." Max told her.
"Me, too." Liz muttered sarcastically under her breath.
"Excuse me?" He asked.
"Nothing... okay, one Alien Blast." Liz chirped, covering up her slip, and then walked away. Neither of them noticed the group of Jocks that had been watching their conversation and had noticed Liz's uncomfortable behavior.
"He's the guy." Tommy told the others. They waited until Max was paying, which was an hour or so later, and went around the corner to wait in the alley.
"What's going on, guys?" Max nodded politely.
"Evans, right?" Paulie Briggs asked him.
"Yeah." Max replied.
"Stay away from her." Tommy told him.
"Who?" Max asked, confused. His answer was a swift punch to the face followed by a rough beating. They weren't pulling any punches.
"It's those jocks from the football team, right? Kyle and his friends?" Michael snarled. He had swung by the Evans' house and crawled through Max's window, only to discover that Max had been hurt.
"Kyle wasn't there." Max told him, watching Michael pace around his room.
"I've seen them giving you those looks. It was them, wasn't it?" Michael insisted, furious that his brother had been attacked for no reason.
"It doesn't matter who it was." Max tried to wave the incident away.
"I'm going to kill them." Michael growled. Max stilled.
"Michael... no."
"So what are we going to do?" Michael demanded.
"Nothing." Max said bluntly, pressing the compass to his face again.
"What do we mean we're going to do nothing?" Michael cursed.
"Michael, listen to me. This is bad. Kyle does something to us. We do something back to him. This kind of thing gets all over school, all over town. Rumors start flying. The whole thing about what you did to Liz starts coming up again. We get exposed." Max told him, looking him in the eye.
"That's exactly what I'm saying. We go and we shut up those guys right now." Michael insisted.
"Michael, we have to stick together now, more than ever before. We have to go back into our shells. We can't do anything to those guys, and now I have to stay away from Liz." Max said, looking like somebody had just kicked his puppy. Michael rolled his eyes, since when had Liz been interested in hanging out with Max anyway? There was no way he was letting those jumped-up jocks get away with this.
Liz waited in the athletic hallway, studying the poster board on the wall very carefully.
"Hey." Maria said, popping up behind her.
"Hey." Liz replied, focusing intently on the posters.
"So, catching up on upcoming athletic events?" Maria asked, nudging her best friend.
"Uh-huh." Liz hummed a reply.
"Uh-huh. It couldn't be that Michael usually meets Max, who has PE 4th period and you're conveniently positioning yourself to just happen to run into him?" Maria teased her.
"Good bye." Liz said in a sing-song voice.
"Bye." Maria wiggled her fingers into a wave, and walked away, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Not seconds later, Max appeared.
"Hey, Max." Liz said, leaning to look around him at the long corridor. Where was Michael?
"Hey." He responded with lack-luster.
"What happened to your face?" Liz gasped, shocked when she caught sight of how badly he was bruised.
"I fell." His excuse was pathetic, she didn't believe it for a minute, but if that was how he wanted to play it…
"Are you ok?" She asked him, trying to be polite.
"Yeah." He told her, shrugging it off.
"When did this happen? It looks really bad." She said.
"Yesterday. Uh, look, I got to get going. I have an English midterm. Bye." He told her, moving away quickly.
"Bye." Liz said, glad that he'd found a reason to be away from her. Maybe he had gotten over his crush. She blinked and turned around, just in time to see Kyle walking up to her.
"Liz, hey." He greeted her with a hug.
"Hey." She replied.
"So, tonight's movie night, right?" Kyle asked her.
"Yes." She agreed.
"Video store at 6?" He suggested.
"Sounds great." Liz smiled her first genuine smile for someone other than Michael in days.
"Alright. Ok, see ya." He grinned and walked off.
Michael started his revenge with Tommy Hilligan. He walked up the stone steps in the quad as Tommy was coming down them and accidentally-on-purpose bumped into him, making sure to touch his shoulder as he moved back.
"Hey, watch where you're going." Tommy snarled at him.
"Dude, I'm sorry." Michael replied, backing off and slipping behind the connect-four styled wall to watch his work. Tommy had met up with a busty blonde cheerleader who he'd been charming for the past week, and was in the middle of putting the moves on her when he started to itch. It was a small irritation at first, but it grew progressively worse until he was practically trying to tear his shirt off in an attempt to subdue the itch. Thoroughly disgusted, the cheerleader left. Michael smirked, happy with his victory.
She had been setting up a platter of doughnuts for the evening rush when Grandma Claudia walked through the front door, bags in hand.
"Grandma!" Liz exclaimed, darting forward to hug her Grandma.
"Honeybear!" Grandma Claudia pulled her into her arms, and looked over to her son.
"Oh, hello Jeffrey... Oh, you're still listening to them. You're dating yourself." Grandma Claudia teased, holding Liz tightly.
"Well, you know, some things defy time." Mr. Parker said offhandedly.
"Oh, look at you." Grandma Claudia fussed, looking Liz up and down.
"What?" Liz asked, confused.
"Last year when I left, you were a child. Now I come back to find a beautiful young woman." Her Grandmother said. Liz blushed, and tried made for her bags.
"Grandma, let me help you upstairs with your stuff." She said, ducking down to pick them up.
"Oh, Jeffrey will get it, won't you dear?" Grandma Claudia said, looking to her son who nodded. Liz put the bags back down again.
"I thought you weren't supposed to be here until Friday." Liz said, and then shook her head. What did it matter?
"Okay, so tell me what's going on. Did you finish that book you were working on last time?" Liz asked her excitedly.
"Oh, book, schmook. Let's dish." Her Grandma said, leading her into the back and up the stairs. They ran into Liz's mom, who was carrying a basket of laundry on the way up.
"Hey Claudia." Ms. Parker greeted happily.
"Nancy, oh it's so good to see you. Hey, come with us. We're going upstairs to catch up." Grandma Claudia encouraged.
"Really? Should I?" Mrs. Parker asked, looking to Liz.
"Yeah, definitely. C'mon mom." Liz said happily.
"I don't think so...I have a lot of laundry to do this week." Mrs. Parker declined, looking at the basket in her arms.
"We'll be back just as soon as Liz has told me about all the boys who are head over heels in love with her." Grandma Claudia declared.
"Don't waste your time because she never talks about that stuff." Mrs. Parker called after them. Liz pulled her Grandma into her room.
"…so, in any case, Kyle's not somebody that I'm going to marry or anything. But it's...you know. We have a good time together. It's good." Liz nodded, finishing her tale. Her Grandma sat there, obviously waiting for more.
"What?" Liz asked, eyeing her carefully.
"Well, not every relationship has to be the be-all and end-all." Grandma Claudia told her.
"Right... it doesn't?" Liz asked, surprised.
"No... everybody wants to find her soulmate, but there's so much time for that. I think it's nice that you have somebody you can have fun with." Grandma Claudia explained.
"What if there was something else?" Liz said nervously.
"Something else?" Grandma Claudia raised an eyebrow.
"Someone else." She clarified, fidgeting.
"Now, this is worth the price of the airfare." Her Grandma grinned, and Liz flushed.
"What if this someone else could potentially be... you know, special?" Liz mumbled.
"Is there someone else?" Grandma asked her gleefully.
"But what if were like complicated...like incredibly, incredibly complicated?" Liz said, twisting her fingers.
"Well, one thing I can tell you...if it isn't complicated, he probably isn't a soulmate." Her Grandmother told her. The door to Liz's bedroom opened and Maria slipped through it, stilling when she noticed Grandma Claudia.
"Grandma!" Maria cried happily.
"Oh, Maria! Look at you. Another beauty. God help this poor little town with you two running around." Grandma Claudia exclaimed, standing up to hug her.
"Okay, I love this woman." Maria told Liz happily.
"Wait... Look at this." Liz held up a book.
"It's an article on the first findings of the Navajo Indians in hundreds of years. Lost Treasures by Claudia Parker. It's going to be in the American Journal of Archaeology." She told Maria excitedly.
"That is so cool..." Maria's eyes widened, and then she turned to Granma Claudia.
"Okay, alright, so let's talk about me. The hair thing... Does it work for you? I kind of see it as a Meg Ryan style after an electric storm." She said.
"I think it's you." Grandma Claudia decided, after looking it over for a moment.
"She's good." Maria laughed.
"Okay, so what were you guys talking about" She asked.
"Nothing." Liz said quickly.
"Boys." Grandma Claudia overrode her.
"Oh... Kyle, Max or Michael?" Maria asked, looking to Liz. She quailed under the weight of Liz's evil-eye stare.
"Thank you..." Liz said, clearly not thankful at all.
"Aha... Michael." Grandma Claudia had caught onto Maria's emphasis on Michael's name.
"No... Michael... he's so not possible. He's just like this whole different..." Liz searched for words to describe Michael.
"Life form?" Maria suggested, earning herself a look from Liz.
"Type." She corrected, voice firm.
"How intriguing. A dangerous man?" Grandma Claudia asked, clapping her hands together. Maria snorted… Dangerous? That was one word you could use.
"Spacey man." She said instead, knowing that Liz was rather touchy on the Michael subject.
"A mystery man." Grandma Claudia decided; her face gleeful.
"Okay, you two...you're out of control." Liz told them, struggling not to laugh as she pictured Michael's face upon hearing what was being said about him.
"So, what are we doing tonight?" Grandma Claudia asked.
"Tonight...?" Liz trailed off, trying to think.
There was a clatter and a crash from outside, and then somebody wiggled through her open window and landed on her floor with a thump. Liz turned around quickly to see a rather dazed-looking Michael sprawled on her bedroom floor. He wore the classic 'deer-in-the-headlights' look when he caught sight of Maria and Granma Claudia, who honestly looked just as startled as he did.
Liz swallowed. This would be hard to explain, and she wasn't sure how Maria was going to react considering that Liz had never told her about Michael's nighttime visits. Nobody said anything for a moment, and then Grandma Claudia broke the silence.
"I presume this is a friend of yours?" She asked Liz calmly and Liz nodded slowly. Behind her, Michael pushed himself up into a sitting position. His movement seemed to be all that was needed to break Maria out of her shock-trance.
"Michael, what're you doing here?" She demanded. Typical Michael, he ignored her in favor of rotating his shoulder.
"I think I might have pulled a muscle." He told Liz offhandedly, avoiding Maria's eyes. Liz helped him up off the floor and onto her bed, mindful of her grandmother's silent gaze.
"Oh, um… Grandma, this is Michael. Michael this is my Grandma Claudia." She introduced them tentatively. Michael was eyeing her Grandmother with what looked like the most scared expression she'd ever seen him wear. He looked almost ready to fling himself back out the window. Maria snickered, having realized the same thing.
"So this is Michael." Grandma Claudia said, eyeing him in return. Nobody missed the emphasis she'd put on the sentence. Liz froze up, and Michael turned his gaze to her, unsure of what to do. When she winced, he knew that staying there was a bad idea and lunged for the window. She made to grab him, but missed, and as he bolted down the ladder again, he could practically hear her cursing him for abandoning her.
Max stuffed the stubs back into the autopsy-alien that was on display, trying not to make the damage worse than it already was.
"Whatcha doing?" Isabel asked, popping up behind him.
"Some kid pulled these out." Max told her, gesturing to the plastic innards.
"Great job you've found, Max. Real dignified." Isabel said, sarcasm clear in her voice.
"Gotta feed the monkey."Max quipped.
"Seventeen people at school already told me about your face..." Isabel told him, and gasped when he turned to look at her properly.
"Oh my God... What happened?" She asked, horrified.
"Michael and I..." Max began.
"Mary Townsend already told me the story of you falling on the basketball court... What really happened, Max?" Isabel fixed him with a stern look. Max sighed.
"Some guys roughed me up last night." He admitted, wincing as her gaze sharpened.
"Why?" She demanded.
"They're friends of Kyle's. They think Kyle must be upset about me and Liz." Max told her, ignoring her raised eyebrow at the mention of 'Him and Liz'. Isabel snorted.
"She barely knows you. What exactly are they imagining?" She asked.
"I don't know." He told her.
"So you were just going to tell me some story like I couldn't handle the truth?" Venom coated her voice.
"I guess I knew how upset you'd be and I don't want you to get mad. We have to stay inside now. We have to be careful." He told her, his expression guarded.
"Max, this whole thing with Liz and the Sherriff's son. It's just..."
"I know, I'm staying away from Liz." Max told her, sounding rather dejected. Isabel nodded, pleased, and looked over his injuries.
"Pretty raw..." Isabel murmured.
"Why don't you just get rid of them?" She asked him.
"Because they have to heal normally... Everything has to be normal." He replied solemnly.
"I can't believe you actually rented this. This looks like the worst movie in history." Liz said, laughing as they walked down the side street toward the Crashdown, movie in hand.
"Well, okay, for your information, "Massacre at Sunset Village" is a modern day classic. And the serial killer homes in on this retirement community so it's got something for your grandmother." Kyle told her, grinning broadly.
"I am not showing this to my grandmother." Liz warned him.
"Well, twenty minutes of wings of boringness and we'll all be ready for some action." Kyle shot back as they came in sight of the Crashdown. They stopped still upon noticing both the crowd and ambulance outside its door. All semblance of humor evaporated as they ran toward the café, movie forgotten.
"What have we got?" The doctor asked, rushing to the side of the gurney as they wheeled it down the hallway of the hospital.
"Patient complained of weakness in her left thigh and her family members noticed slurred speech before she lost consciousness. BP 160, pulse 100, respiration 20." One of the attending nurses told him.
"Gimme an EKG..." The doctor said quickly, and then caught sight of Liz.
"Keep them out of here, please." The doctor told the nurse, nodding at the Parker family.
"I'm sorry, I need to have you wait." A nurse said, pushing the Parker family backwards.
"That's my mother." Mr. Parker protested.
"I understand that, but I need you to wait out here." The nurse apologized, guiding them to a waiting room. They sat there for nearly two hours in silence, and then suddenly, Liz stood up.
"I'm gonna go…" Words failed her, so instead she just left. She walked down two different halls until she found an area that seemed to lack people, and backed herself into a small corner before allowing herself to break down and cry. How could this be happening?
She wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting there, feeling completely lost. But then she'd felt warm arms trying to lift her up, to pull her close. Not knowing who it was, she pushed them away, wanting to be alone in her pain.
"Liz? Liz, c'mon. Don't push me away." She looked up, and even though tears blurred her vision, she knew it was Michael.
"What're you doing here?" She asked, sniffling.
"I don't know. I just… I had a feeling that you needed me." He told her, tilting his head to the side.
"How?" She wanted to know. Michael shrugged.
"No idea. C'mon, up you get. Your Mom's getting worried." He pulled her to her feet and led her back down the hallway. They reached the lobby just in time to meet the doctor in charge of her grandma.
"Dr. Sanchez." Mr. Parker said, leaping to his feet.
"Jeff, hi. Nancy." Doctor Sanchez greeted them.
"Thank you for coming...we're so glad you're able to be here." Mrs. Parker told him, sounding rather relieved.
"Of course." Doctor Sanchez replied. Michael patted Liz's shoulder.
"I have to go. Are you going to be okay?" He asked her. Liz looked up at him, understanding.
"Yeah, yeah. I-I'll be fine." She told him, forcing a smile. He squeezed her hand gently, and then backed off, well aware of the looks that Kyle was shooting them. The last thing Liz needed right now was a jealous boyfriend throwing a tantrum.
"How is she?" Mr. Parker asked, clearly worried.
"Jeff, your mother's had a stroke. This is serious, but she's been responding really well. Her vital signs are good. She's stabilized." Doctor Sanchez explained.
"Is she going to be ok?" Mrs. Parker asked him, holding onto her husband's hand tightly.
"A lot of people fully recover from a stroke like this, but it's early. We're going to need some time to determine what the repercussions are." The doctor told them.
"Thank you." Mr. Parker said, letting out a huge sigh.
"We have reason to be positive here." The doctor insisted, Mrs. Parker nodded in understanding.
"Okay, thanks." Mr. Parker said. Doctor Sanchez walked out of the door, narrowly avoiding bumping into Max, who had just walked in.
"Max." Liz said, surprised. Suddenly, she was glad that Michael had left when he did.
"Hey." Max replied.
"My grandmother just had a stroke." Liz explained.
"Oh, I'm sorry...how are you doing, you okay?" He asked her, pretending that Isabel hadn't told him what had happened.
"Yeah, thanks...everyone this is Max." Liz introduced him to her family.
"Hi there." Her dad said politely, obviously not interested.
"Hi." Max waved shyly.
"So, what are you doing here?" Kyle asked him, eyes narrowed.
"My cousin got into a car accident." Max lied, using his cover-story.
"I'm sorry." Liz said, and Max immediately felt guilt clench in his stomach.
"I don't think it's serious. I better go find out how he's doing." Max told her, suddenly wanting to get as far away as possible. He walked around aimlessly for a while before leaving, only to run into Kyle, who had lain in wait for him outside the front doors.
"So, how's your cousin?" Kyle asked him.
"He's going to be okay." Max replied.
"Your cousin wasn't in an accident, was he?" Kyle said, knowing that Max had lied.
"It was a mistake." Max told him.
"Max...I know that something happened between Michael and Liz the day of the shooting. That he helped her out or whatever. She was shaken up and he calmed her down and I appreciate that. But what I don't appreciate is that ever since then, you've been all over her. I see it, Max. I'd understand if it were Michael, if he were keeping an eye on her, but you?" Kyle looked him in the eye.
"She said it herself, she doesn't even know you. This crush or whatever it is that you have, it's got to stop. My friends see it, the entire school sees it. Now, I like Liz...a lot, and I don't want you around her."
"Believe me, I can see that." He told Kyle, before starting the engine and driving away
Kyle slouched down on the couch, turning the TV up even louder. Today officially sucked. To make things worse, Max Evans was really starting to move in on his girl. Had nobody ever explained the bro code to that guy? The front door clattered as his dad walked in, hanging up his belt as he did so.
"Hey, improving your mind, eh?" His dad joked, and Kyle turned the TV up again.
"How was your day?" his dad asked him.
Just got back from the hospital." Kyle replied, flicking through the channels.
"The hospital?" His dad asked, sounding panicked.
"Liz's grandma had a stroke." Kyle explained, deflating his dad before he began to freak out.
"I'm sorry to hear that." His dad said once it had all sunk in.
"They think she's going to be alright though." Kyle told him, eyes fixed on the TV screen.
"Give my regards to the family, will ya?" His dad said, his voice muffled now that he was digging through the fridge.
"Yeah..." Kyle dragged the word out.
"Kyle, is something bugging you?" His dad asked, pulling his head out of the fridge.
"Just girl troubles...nothing you'd understand." Kyle replied tiredly.
"Why don't you try me?" His dad asked, turning off the TV and sitting down in front of it.
"Alright, let me just ask you then. When you and mom, back when things were good if you can remember that far back, did you ever feel like you didn't know what was going on with her? Like she was just going through the motions, like there was something else on her mind all the time?" Kyle shot back aggressively.
"Is that what's going on with Liz? Is something on her mind?" His dad asked, eyes narrowed.
"Why am I talking to you about this? I'm like deranged." Kyle sighed, frustrated.
"What else is on her mind? School stuff?" His dad pressed.
"No, no...just like someone else, maybe." Kyle waved it off.
"Does this have anything to do with that Max kid?" His dad asked, weirdly perceptive.
"What...the entire country knows?" Kyle sputtered, throwing his hands up.
"Kyle, listen to me. I don't want you getting mixed up with that kid." Suddenly his dad was in Sherriff mode.
"What are you talking about? What do you care about Max Evans?" Kyle asked suspiciously.
"Kyle, I don't want you around him. Do you hear me?" Sherriff Valenti told him, all traces of Kyle's dad gone.
"Yeah." Kyle agreed and retreated to his room.
Michael's second for of revenge came in the form of History, which he shared with Paulie Briggs. It just so happened that today marked the day of a major unit test. Paulie wasn't an idiot, but he was certainly no genius either. Usually, he only managed to pass by the skin of his teeth.
So Michael waited until Paulie finished his test and left, before moving to put his own in the box. Before he lay down his test paper, Michael used his powers to change the top page of Paulie's answers. There, now it was up to fate to decide. As he left the room, Michael felt a twinge of doubt – What would Liz say if she knew? He shook it off – No, the jocks deserved what they got. Humming a tune, Michael sauntered down a hallway. What should he do for Eddie?
"Max, hey." Liz greeted, approaching the boy in question.
"Hey, how's your grandmother?" Max asked her.
"We're waiting, but I think she's going to be okay. I mean, if anyone can pull through this, it's her. She's so full of life." Liz told him, sounding a little more cheerful.
"I hope she's okay." Max told her honestly.
"So, about last night." Liz said, trying to be casual.
"Isabel told me. She was helping out Maria at the Crashdown, and I thought I'd see if you were okay." Max explained.
"Thankyou. I'm just really sorry that it got so awkward." She told him.
"It was a mistake. I mean, you had your family there...and Kyle." He added, his expression darkening.
"Is everything alright?" Liz asked, noticing his expression.
"I have to go." He told her, and hurried away. He took a left and went down another hallway before diving into the boys bathroom, clearly angry about something. Finally, he took his frustration out of the side of one of the bathroom stalls, causing it to fly off its hinges and collapse.
"Ow." A voice exclaimed from within the ruined stall.
"Gandhi feeling frustrated?" Michael quipped, coming out of the busted stall.
"Shut up." Max snapped at him.
"Let me guess... you're in love with a girl and she's with another guy." Michael asked. He could relate.
"You realize that you can be really annoying, right?" Max told him.
"I got something else that's gonna cheer you up." Michael clapped him on the shoulder and pulled him out into the hallway where Kyle had drawn a crowd. For some reason, his locker simply refused to open.
"What the hell are you doing?" Max hissed, realizing that Michael had done something.
"What am I doing?" Max repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"What are you doing?" Max demanded angrily.
"I'm helping you out." Michael told him.
"No, you're not helping me out. You promised me that you wouldn't do anything to those guys." Max snarled at him.
"I promised I wouldn't hurt those guys." Michael pointed out the rather convenient loop hole that he had exploited.
"You're putting us in danger, Michael." Max said.
"You're the one who's putting us in danger. Following Liz around like a lost puppy? Did you really think that nobody would notice, or link it to the shooting? A girl gets shot, and then one of the witness's starts stalking her?" Michael hissed aggressively.
"I love her." Max protested.
"Let's hope we can trust her." Michael warned him.
"We can trust her." Max insisted.
"Well, I don't trust anyone these days." Michael replied. It was a lie. He hated lying – hated pretending to despise Liz.
"Liz, how's she doing?" Maria asked as she came up behind Liz and put an arm around her. She lead the dazed brunette to one of the soft couches outside the front office.
"She's okay...we're just going to wait and see." Liz replied, sounding rather lost.
"Come here." Maria pulled her down on to the couch.
"So what are you doing at school?" She asked as Liz curled up in her lap. Maria started to fiddle with Liz's hair.
"I was at the hospital all night. My parents just wanted me to take a break. My mom said she'd page me if anything changed." Liz told her.
"Well, you know, you should be at home then...binging on junk food and Rosie." Maria said, worried for her friend. Liz sat up.
"Maria, I'm getting this really weird feeling from Max." Liz
"What kind of feeling?" Maria asked her.
"It's like I've done something wrong, which is ridiculous, because I barely see him… It's just, it's like he'd angry with me." Liz explained, fidgeting.
"Well, the guy has a huge crush on you which is blatantly obvious and you do continually brush him off and avoid his advances." Maria pointed out.
"Yeah, but it's different. I saw Max before and he had this...like this tone like I was his enemy or something." Liz told her, frowning.
"Maybe you're just reading into this too much. I mean, with everything that's going on." Maria suggested.
"Maybe." Liz replied, biting her lip. The bell rang and they got up.
"So, I'll just, I'll see you at work." Liz said. Maria did a double take.
"Work? No way you're working tonight, Liz." She told the smaller girl.
"No, Stephanie's on vacation, Karen's pregnant, and those tooth people are going to invade. I cannot leave you by yourself." Liz insisted.
"Liz, you should be with your family, okay? I can handle the Crashdown." Maria assured her.
"Are you sure?" Liz frowned, worried.
"Absolutely, and besides, I'm not alone. I have Agnes." Maria said, steering her toward Geometry.
Later that afternoon, Maria was forced to eat her own words. The place was packed, and she only had one pair of hands. Agnes was… unhelpful to say the least.
"I've been here half an hour." One of the customers complained to Maria when she brought steaming plates to his neighbors.
"Enjoy your meal. Enjoy your meal." She said, setting the dishes down,
"Thanks." One of them said, but Maria was already halfway across the room, at Table 5.
"Miss, can I order now, please?" The man from Table 8 asked her.
"Yes, one second." She told him, before focusing on the man in the booth.
"Hi, what can I get for you, sir?" She asked, shooting him a winning grin.
"Well, lemme ask you. Would you recommend the Will Smith burger over the Tommy Lee Jones Bacon basket?" The orthodontist sitting at the booth asked her.
"Agnes, can you get that guy's order, please?" Maria begged the older waitress, before returning to the customer at hand.
"So which one would you recommend?" The orthodontist asked.
"The first one." She told him, not really sure what he had asked.
"The Will Smith?" The orthodontist asked, but Maria had been distracted by Agnes walking out of the restaurant, and had followed.
"Agnes! What are you doing?" she demanded as the older woman lit up a cigarette.
"I'm on break." The old waitress replied, taking a long drag of her cigarette.
"Break? You're on a break? You just had a break!" Maria exclaimed.
"They'll get their food when they get their food." Agnes told her grouchily. Maria began to hyperventilate, and pulled out the bottle of cypress oil that she kept in her apron. As she did this, Isabel walked by with two of her friends, Pamela Jones and Amanda Price.
"Isabel." Maria said to herself, the proverbial light bulb pinging overhead.
"Isabel." She shouted, hurrying after the taller blonde.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Isabel asked sassily, clearly wishing for Maria to leave her alone.
"I need to talk to you." Maria insisted. Frustrated, Isabel let out a huge sigh before turning to her friends.
"I'll meet you guys at the movie." She told them reluctantly. Once they were gone, she rounded on Maria.
"I thought we agreed that you would never address me until we'd established complete privacy." Isabel hissed at her, but Maria didn't even bat an eyelid.
"Okay, I am going to hate myself for this but I need to ask you for a favor that will leave me forever indebted to you. I am so dead here. Will you help me wait tables?" Maria begged. Isabel did a double take.
"You're kidding, right?" She asked.
"Please." Maria begged.
"To put this as succinctly as possible, I'm not really a service oriented person." Isabel sniffed, tilting her nose upwards, turning away.
"Wait wait wait. Liz's grandmother is in the hospital." Maria told her.
"Okay, and if she doesn't think that I can do this, it's just going to give her one more thing to worry about. Please. Look, it's not for me, it's for Liz."
"Well, since you put it that way...no." Isabel told her, and then walked away. Dejected, Maria returned to the Crashdown.
"Well, your grandmother was hiking in Yosemite. And she came across this guy who was deer hunting." Mr. Parker said, telling Liz one of the many exploits that had Grandma had had when she was younger.
"And it wasn't even deer season." Mrs. Parked added.
"Well, I think it was. But anyway, he's hunting inside the national park." Her dad continued.
"And it was off season, too." He mom cut in.
"Anyway, she arrested him." Her dad finished.
"Who, the hunter?" Liz asked, completely entranced.
"Yeah, it was him and his brother and their buddy, too, right?" He turned to his wife.
"Right." Liz's mom nodded.
"Made a citizen's arrest." Her dad told her.
"And you should have seen your grandma. She's dragging these 3 gun-wielding, beer-guzzling hunters into the Sherriff's office. It made national news, right?" Mrs. Parker told her.
"She's so incredible." Liz said, amazed.
"CODE BLUE, ICU, ROOM 104, CODE BLUE, ICU, ROOM 104." The PA intoned in dulcet tones.
"Oh my God. It's her." Mr. Parker gasped, his head shooting up. As one, the small family bolted toward room 104, and watched from outside the room.
"Charge 200...clear." Doctor Sanchez called, rubbing the paddles together.
"Nothing." His assistant told him.
"Charge 300...clear." Doctor Sanchez repeated.
"Nothing." His assistant replied.
"Charge 360... clear." The doctor called again, and Liz turned to burrow into her Mom's arms.
"She could still come out of it." Maria told her, playing with Liz's hair. As soon as the Crashdown had shut for the night, Maria had bolted for the hospital only to find Liz curled up in a chair in the lobby.
"Well, the doctor doesn't think so. I saw it in his eyes." Liz sighed.
"I can't believe this. I mean, you saw her yesterday, you know? She was so full of life." She cried.
"I know." Maria told her, pulling her in for a hug.
"I can't believe I went out. I was out all day. I wasted all that time in the video store. I had all this time that I could have just spent with her and I left. What was I thinking?" Liz cried, leaning against Maria.
"I know, it's irrational. I'm being irrational." She told Maria.
"Liz, I'm glad you're being irrational. I mean, this is hard. This is really, really hard. Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Maria replied, watching her carefully.
"Yeah, it's fine, but thank you." Liz said, defeated. Maria pulled her into a tight hug.
"Okay, I love you." She told her.
"I love you, too." Liz replied, eyes closed.
Max lay on his bed, moping. Today sucked. He shut his eyes as he heard someone enter the room.
"Go away!" He moaned, wishing he had a pillow to throw. When he didn't hear anymore footsteps, he cracked open his eyes.
"No way!" Max gaped, catching sight of the uniform Isabel was wearing. It was a waitress uniform from the Crashdown. What the hell?
"Shut up. Temporary situation." Isabel told him.
"Why are you...? You're covering for Liz, aren't you?" Max said, realization dawning on his face.
"So...depressed? Feeling sorry for yourself? Angry at the world?" Isabel asked him mockingly.
"All of the above." Max groaned in response.
"Listen, I heard Liz's grandma isn't doing so well. She could probably use someone to talk to." Isabel said.
"She's got Maria. She's got Kyle." Max told her.
"Besides, you're the one who's always telling me I have to stay away from her. What are you saying, Izzie?" Max pointed out.
"I'm just saying that, you know, if something like this happened to grandma or grandpa, I wouldn't want to be kept away from who I really needed. So anyway, wish me luck. Or should I say, wish the orthodontists luck." Isabel left, a rather scary expression on her face. Max uttered a short prayer for the Crashdown's customers before flopping back onto the bed.
"Excuse me, ma'am." One of the customers said, trying to get Isabel's attention. She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him.
"Ma'am? Look, you're not going to get anywhere calling me ma'am." She told him icily.
"I ordered this burger well done. Well. Not rare. Well." He insisted, ignoring her acidic eyes. She took the plate away, and moved to where he couldn't see her before flipping the bun off the burger and using her powers to grill it. Then she took it back again.
"It looks well done to me." Isabel told him tartly, and moved off to clean a table that had just been vacated.
"Isabel Evans? Cleaning people's remains?" Pamela asked, sounding like she'd just seen somebody be hit by a bus.
"Isabel...image means everything is this world, you know that." Amanda hissed.
"We base our lives on that." Pamela reminded her.
"And if you're seen in this capacity, it's not just you that suffers. It brings us all down." Amanda told her, clearly unimpressed.
"Chill out." Isabel told them, carrying on with her job. Maria snagged her by the back end, cup of coffee in hand.
"Hi, can you heat this?" Maria asked her, and Isabel complied, instantly heating the brew.
"You're a genius." Maria told her, glowing with cheer. Thank god for aliens.
That night, after she got back from the hospital, Liz crawled out onto her rooftop balcony to watch the stars. They were tiny pinpricks of light, but at the same time they were huge burning balls of light thousands of miles away… So amazing. There was a clatter, and she turned her head in time to see Michael swing up onto the balcony. He walked over to her and sat down next to her on the lawn chair.
"How is it that you just keep showing up when I need you?" She asked him softly.
"I'm not sure." He told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. It was strange, a month ago they had barely spoken in the halls at school, and now… now Liz couldn't imagine her life without him. Michael had never failed to show up outside her window for an evening chat, or indulge her with answering whatever questions she could dredge up. He never failed to appear when she needed him… Not once… But how?
"Michael… why did you come to the hospital earlier?" She asked, this time thinking about that one time. He looked down at her.
"I don't know… I just… I felt like I really needed to be there. So I went."
"Yes, but how did you find me?" She questioned, brows pulled together into a frown.
"I don't… Oh…" Michael exhaled softly as an idea set in.
"What? Oh what?" Liz insisted, sensing a change in him.
"Liz… do you think… maybe… it's to do with the connection?" He asked her, feeling her tense underneath his arm.
"Oh…" She breathed.
"Is it possible?" He pushed.
"Well, I don't see why not… I mean, it'd have to be really strong to do that… but maybe." She told him, really thinking hard about it.
"Do you want to test it out?" He asked her, humming with excitement.
"Yes… but not tonight." She answered after a pause, leaning into him.
"Not tonight." He agreed, pulling her close again, and they settled down to watch the stars.
The next afternoon, Kyle tapped his foot impatiently. All day, his locker had refused to open, and now the janitor was finally taking a shot at it. So far, the crowbar was barely making a dent. What was wrong with it?
"Whoa, that's weird." The man said, prying the door open fully.
"What?" Kyle asked, peering over the man's shoulder.
"Looks like it melted." The janitor told him, showing his the inside of the door where the locking mechanism had fused.
Kyle pulled his books out, and caught up with his friends outside of the school.
"So the locker just melted closed. How do you explain that? Metal's got to be like 500 degrees to melt." Kyle told his friends, completely baffled.
"Maybe it was that Max guy, getting back at us." Tommy suggested.
"Getting back at us for what?" Kyle asked him, eyes narrowing.
"We beat the crap out of the bastard." Paulie told him.
"What?" Kyle hissed, sucking in a breath.
"You're the one that told us he was hitting on Liz." Eddie Carmack told him.
"Idiots." Kyle snapped furiously. This was not going to end well.
"How's she doing?" Kyle asked, walking up to where Liz stood outside of her Grandma's room.
"She's okay." Liz said, still staring through the glass window.
"Listen, I need to talk to you." He told her. She nodded, and followed him out of the hospital, passing Michael on the way. Thankfully, Michael had enough tact to wait by the doors, out of earshot. Well, out of the range of human earshot.
"Liz, I'm sorry. I know you have other things on your mind right now, but I just wanted to tell you that I had nothing to do with what happened to Max." Kyle told her.
"What happened to Max?" Liz asked him, her voice taking on a worried tone.
"You know...Tommy, Eddie and Paulie, those guys. They're degenerates and I had no idea they were going to do that." Kyle said.
"Do what?" Liz said, confused.
"You know, beat him up. You didn't know?" Kyle explained, surprised that Max hadn't told her.
"Why would they do something like that?" Liz asked him, eyes wide.
"I don't know why. They were just trying to help out." Kyle told her.
"Help out? How would that help out?" Liz said, trying to puzzle it over.
"I told them it was wrong, Liz." Kyle swore, holding his hands in the air.
"How could you be friends with people who would do that?" Liz asked, horrified.
"C'mon Liz. They're good guys. You-" Whatever she was, Liz didn't give him a chance to say it.
"No, they're not good guys." Liz told him.
"Why are you getting like this?" Kyle frowned, confused.
"Like what?" Liz asked, puffing up like an adder.
"I'm trying to explain something to you and you're letting it get all out of hand." He said, frustrated.
"You must have said something to them about Max. They must have had a reason to do what they did." Liz insisted, angry that he'd been attacked.
"Why are you so damn worried about Max?" Kyle snapped at her.
"Because he got attacked for no reason. He's the last person in the world who would ever want to hurt someone." Liz told him.
"So, that's it, isn't it? You and Max are together." Kyle said.
"What? No! I barely know him. The only reason we hang out is because he's friends with Michael!" Liz told him.
"So it's you and Michael." Kyle said angrily, eyeing Michael who waited for her by the door.
"No, we're not. But you know what? Neither are we." She hissed, feeling like she was going to break down at any moment.
"What?" Kyle's eyes widened.
"Kyle, I just, I really don't think that we should be together anymore." She told him tiredly.
"So, you're going to break up with me because my friends knocked Max around?" Kyle demanded, looking rather upset.
"No, it's complicated." She told him.
"It's because of Max." Kyle decided, coming to the only logical conclusion. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending how one looked at it, this was not a logical situation. Liz shook her head.
"No, I told you that Max..." Liz tried again.
"Listen, Max is trouble. My dad's got an eye on him." Kyle told her.
"I have to go see my grandmother. I'm sorry Kyle." She said, and turned away, walking back up the steps of the hospital to where Michael was waiting. They made their way back to Grandma Claudia's room in silence. There were no words that could possibly fill the void.
"How is she? Is there any change?" Liz asked, as they walked into the room. Her dad looked up at her.
"None." He said, voice strained.
"Why don't you guys go outside and get some air?" Liz suggested, handing her dad a cup of water. Michael passed one to her Mom.
"You sure?" He asked her. She nodded.
"Yeah, I'll be fine, okay?" Liz told him, and then sat down in the seat he vacated. Michael took the seat next to her and put his arm around her.
"I can't stop it, you know what's going to happen, but maybe I can help you say goodbye." Michael told her, and Liz looked up at him through tear-filled eyes.
"How?" She asked him.
"You know how we can connect?" He asked her.
"Yeah?" She replied, rubbing an eye wearily.
"Well, maybe I can do something like that. Y'know, link you up." He suggested. Liz stared at him for a moment.
"Thank you." She whispered, and he nodded. Michael leant forward and took Grandma Claudia's hand with his left, and Liz's hand in his right, closing his eyes tightly as he focused. It didn't quite work out the way he had intended, but it worked none-the-less.
"Honeybear" Liz jerked around, hearing her Grandma's voice. Her grandma was standing in front of her, and yet, when she looked back at the bed, she was still there too. Liz sputtered for a moment, before forcing it back. She might not have very long.
"Grandma… I guess the thing I wanted to say to you more than anything else is just how much you mean to me, and somehow you just always manage to make me feel really special, and I, I just don't know what I'm going to do without you." She managed to get out, trying her best not to dissolve into tears again.
"You're going to do just fine, and I want to tell you something. When I look at you so excited about life, I see myself, and that's a gift, a gift that I will take with me, that I'll always treasure." Her grandmother told her.
"Promise me one thing, that you'll follow your heart wherever it takes you. Trust it. Will you do that?" Grandma Claudia asked.
"I will." Liz said tearfully. Then her grandmother's image disappeared and the monitor next to the bed began to squeal as her heartbeat flat-lined. After that, things started to blur together. She had a vague recollection of nurses running into the room, and then somebody calling a Code Blue. Of Michael's arms locked around her, holding her up when her knees buckling. Then she stopped caring. Her Grandma was gone.
Michael walked her home that night, and helped her up the fire escape, unlocking her window for her when they reached the balcony.
"Michael, thank you for..." Liz said, choking on her words as she began to sob quietly. He pulled her close.
"Shhh. It's okay." He whispered as she buried her face in his shirt. Michael rubbed her back gently, and after a long moment, Liz pulled back.
"Good night." She told him, smiling sadly.
"Good night." He replied and helped her through the window. That night, he sat on the roof of the building, determined to be near if she needed him.
"The tough thing about following your heart is what people forget to mention, that sometimes your heart takes you to places you shouldn't be, places that are as scary as they are exciting and as dangerous as they are alluring, and sometimes your heart takes you to places that can never lead to a happy ending... and that's not even the difficult part. The difficult part is when you follow your heart, you leave normal, you go into the unknown…and once you do, you can never go back."
21.04.2013
AN: So – anybody want to hear a joke? I wrote Chapter 5, and then realized I'd forgotten to write Chapter 4… So, yeah, I had to go back and write it. That's why it took so long for the update, but on the bright side – you get TWO chapters. :D
So – Michael bailed in to talk to Liz and tell her about Max getting banged up… only to bolt when he met Grandma Claudia… Ooops. Want to know what happened to Eddie? I might mention it in Chapter 6 if I get enough requests.
You'll get the usual AN next chapter, as I'm doing replies to Reviews in this one.
Dean Winchester's Baby Girl: Thanks. As you can probably tell, I'm a major polar fan too. :) Michael is a fun character to write. He's never going to be 'The Perfect Man' which makes him so damn awesome. Who wants perfect? So yes, we have emotionally unsure, slightly-squishy Michael around Liz, and punky-gruff stonewall Michael around everybody else except Grandma Claudia… but she doesn't really count… Shame. Update? Why or course. I am your humble servant. I say servant, not slave, as I expect to be paid in Reviews. XD Writing this is addictive. :D
Boolochka06: Thanks. I like how I'm writing it too. Parallel AU's are hard because the whole point is to not deviate too much, but to create a divergent. - This is hard. I totally agree, Max is a dopey Puppy, and in the second season? A complete git! Where does he get off being so bossy, and why does Liz let him? I've had guys like this pester me before. It really does create that icky sinking feeling. Poor Liz. :( Episodes 5, 6 & 10? You read my mind. I've been planning those for a while. *cackles evilly* Chapter 5 will be up as well, so go ahead and find out. XD
Twisted Musalih: Thankyou. *bows* Thankyou. I
Guest: Thankyou Guest. I appreciate your interest… shame you don't have an FF account. :/ I hope you enjoy this.