Note: While writing this part I realized I've been listening to a lot of music (which is nothing new) but some of the songs I've listened to have been giving me ideas for some of the chapters in this story. So I figured I'd put down what song(s) helped me envision a certain chapter. Some chapters won't have a song and others will have a few attached to it, some I picked for the melody alone and others for the lyrics.

My Happy Ending –Avril Lavigne (Prologue)

Prelude 12/24—AFI, Cells—The Servant (Chapter 5)

Ripped the Heart Out of Me—Adema (Chapter 6-first half)

Chapter 6 A

July 6; Crashdown Backroom; 11:37 p.m.

Sirens reached her ears as she regained consciousness. She moaned in pain as she opened her eyes slowly. Light pierced her brain and she closed her eyes again as fast as she could. A deep Hispanic accent pushed through the chaos of her brain. "Liz. Sweetheart? Don't move." She felt a soft touch against her cheek. Jose? Why was he there? Didn't he go home at eight? Groaning she tried to turn but Jose kept a firm grip on her shoulders holding her in place.

"No, stay still. The ambulance is on their way. Just rest." He stroked her head doing his best to calm her.

"Mom?" She coughed out. "Daddy?" Liz wanted her parents. No one but them could make her feel completely safe and taken care of.

Silence followed her request; it wasn't until she said their names again that Jose spoke. "Just concentrate on yourself little one. Don't worry about them right now."

The siren which one-minute ago sounded close now seemed farther away, she felt herself falling back down the hole of darkness.

When she awoke again she heard Jose tell someone not to hurt one of his girls. It was an affectionate term he used with her and Maria. He saw them as his little sisters and no one was to mess with them without getting an ear full from him.

What was happening…she tried to move her head but couldn't.

"Don't move Miss Parker. Keep still." A firm but friendly female voice spoke to her.

"Mom?" She cried. "Dad?" Where were they? Why weren't they here? No one answered her; they seemed to not care where her parents were. Well she cared dammit.

Liz tried to get up but hands held her down. "Let go." Pain shot up her right side and her left wrist throbbed.

"Relax, you need to calm down. You're in an ambulance, we're on the way to the hospital. Your parents…" Some hurried voices cut off the woman speaking but she couldn't make it out because the pounding in her ears wouldn't stop. "They're on their way to the hospital."

Hearing that she calmed, okay, if they were headed to the hospital then it must not be so bad. Slowly her breathing slowed and she relaxed back into the stretcher she laid on. Now that the people had her up they tried to keep her up.

For the rest of the way to the hospital they kept her awake and somewhat alert. They asked her questions and asked her to tell them stories about happy times all to make sure she stayed up.

Over the next hour she was rushed to emergency, her broken left wrist was wrapped in a cast, the doctor said her entire right side was black and blue from landing hard on the stairs. No wonder it hurt to move. And he wrapped her ankle because it was sprained.

When she was wheeled into a room the doctor told her that she had a concussion, which explained why she was dizzy and had a difficult time keeping her eyes open. That was when she asked for her parents again. "Where are they? Are they alright?"

The doctor looked at his chart. "You were the only person admitted to this hospital from the address the ambulance was sent to…" He put a hand on his waist and took out his pen from his white jacket. A knock on the door interrupted their brief consultation.

It was the police. "Oh thank God. Where are my parents?" The doctor made no sense to her? The woman in the ambulance said her parents were on the way to the hospital. That means either they were hurt and were sent there for treatment or they were fine and out in the waiting room. Both scenarios led to the same result and that's them being in the hospital.

One of the male officers stepped forward, he was medium built, only 5'7 at the most, dark blonde hair and a long scar that started on his eyebrow and continued below his left eye. The long crooked nose kept the man from being classified as handsome but still was attractive. "Miss Parker, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but your parents didn't survive the attack."

The EKG machine beeped faster as her heartbeat accelerated, "But—but the woman in the ambulance…" She shook her head as tears formed in her eyes.

The older policeman stood taller than his partner at about six feet, he had tired eyes that had seen too much in his life. He stepped forward and stood closer to the hospital bed. "Whoever the woman was that told you that, I'm sure she said it to keep you calm." He would have gone on but from the look of the young woman in the bed she hadn't heard a word he said. "Miss Parker?"

Liz raised her head to look at the doctor and two officers, "They can't be dead—you see they can't be. You made a mistake it can't be them."

"It was them." The younger of the two spoke.

Any composure she had managed fled at those three words. "No!" She grabbed the Dixie cup filled with water next to her bed and threw it at them. "It's not! It's not!" Liz wailed in agony. The mirror across the room above the sink shattered as she cried.

The cracking of the mirror startled the other occupants of the room but Liz didn't notice or care. She curled up on her side, the EKG machine continued to freak out at the increase in heart rate. A few seconds later the machine was quiet and had a tiny stream of smoke coming from it. Not even that would break her out her grief.

TBC

Chapter 6 B

6:14 a.m.

Nurses and doctors came and went through the night and into the morning hours, checking on her, making sure her bandages were in place and clean. After the police left her alone every time someone came in she stared straight ahead didn't interact—even when they asked her a question. What was the point of speaking when the only people she wanted to talk to weren't there anymore?

During the time between shift change she heard murmuring outside her door. The nurses and police thought the mirror broke because she threw a heavy object at it didn't matter that when it was cleaned up no one could find what she threw. Their excuse for the EKG machine was simply a short circuit. Entering the Alien Abyss she knew first hand that people tended to rationalize what they could and forget what they couldn't.

Doctor Shulle recommended a suicide watch, she'd have told him it would have been a waste of workers if she cared. She didn't feel like doing much of anything let alone killing herself. And yet there was a big burly female nurse that stood guard outside her door. At least she thought it was a female, the deep voice and male like face and body threw her off but she'd never heard of a man named Lily.

The room she's recovering in was meant for two people but there wasn't anyone in the next bed so she had it all to herself. Liz hadn't gone to sleep yet, the doctor wanted to drug her but she practically pushed him away saying she didn't want or need to be knocked out. The possibility of waking up strapped to a bed and being dissected by a Pierce wanna-be didn't make her warm and fuzzy.

Over the last six hours she had been staring off into space thinking about the creature that killed her parents. While the police questioned her she couldn't tell them what really had done the horrible crime so she lied and said she hadn't seen anything. Went on to say when she walked in the front door she'd been pushed aside and thrown down the stairs and that was last thing she remembered before waking at the bottom with Jose talking to her.

In reality she saw the thing quite clearly. The image of the murderous creature barring its teeth, snarling the blood of her parents dripping from its jaw and claws—it hadn't left her mind since the cops broke the news to her.

A knock on her hospital door broke her thought process. "Jose?"

The cook who had been pulling double duty these last few days because their new cook quit unexpectedly was holding a vase with various flower arrangements and a small black teddy bear with a tanned belly.

"Hey little one." He stepped passed the large nurse and set the items on her end table.

Although she didn't want to talk she couldn't ignore her friend. "Hi." Her voice hoarse from crying half the night.

"They wouldn't let me see you till now, something about visiting hours." Jose took hold of her good hand and held it. "I am so sorry this happened to you." He kissed her hand tenderly.

"Thank you." She spoke softly and sincerely.

"Is there anything I can get you?" He saw her battered and bruised body and fought the cringe. Liz was so small already; the bruises and bandages covering various parts on her body only made her look smaller and more fragile.

"Yesterday would be nice." Not wanting to hold back her tears any longer she curled up keeping a hold of Jose's hand and let out the tears that were clogging her throat. "I want them back. I want them back." She moaned out.

A firm hand stoked her hair, "I know. I would give them back to you if I could." He kissed her forehead. Jose held her till her tears subsided, she was shattered and there was nothing he could do to fix it. Nothing could take the pain away. Nothing could stop the helplessness he felt at not being able to make her better.

He held her for a few moments when Liz broke the silence; "Do you know how long I have to stay here?" She wanted to leave the hospital as soon as possible. Sniffing she leaned back and rubbed at her raw cheeks.

"Want me to go check?" He kept his voice low and calming.

"Please." Liz continued to wipe at her eyes rubbing the wetness on her hands on the sheets. Her hospital gown was soaked enough from crying.

In a few moments Jose returned with a doctor in tow. "Mr. Hernandez tells me you want to leave?" He put his hands on his waist in an aggressive manner.

"Yes I do." Where was her doctor? Dr…she took a moment to look at the tag with his name, Dr. Rooke had come in once before, after the police told her about her parents. His bedside approach sucked buttermilk, he told her to snap out of it. She only stared at him giving him no indication that she heard him, it almost made her laugh when he left in a huff.

"I recommend against it." He took his glasses off and gave her the full power of his glare. On most patients it worked but he didn't know the history of the woman he was speaking with. She wasn't one to be easily intimidated.

Anger coursed through her body, finally an emotion she could fully express without breaking down into tears. "Screw your recommendation. The only reason you want me to stay is to milk more money from me, so you can take your recommendation and stick it up your ass because I don't want it. Let me leave."

"I think you heard the lady doctor." Jose smirked at him. Many people underestimated his girl but they usually only did it once.

After arguing for a few more minutes the doctor reluctantly agreed to discharge her. Jose said he'd take care of everything and left with the irritated doctor. However getting out of there wasn't going to be that easy, the police wanted to talk to her first.

So there she sat waiting while the police talked to the doctor before they moved on to her. Finally they came into the room, one, a male, looked stern, while the other had a smile in her eyes.

"We hear you're talking again. Would you be willing to tell us anymore about what happened tonight?" The female, Detective Malone, spoke sweetly. Great, were they going to try good cop, bad cop on her? Sure seemed that way from where she's laying.

"Yea." She nodded, anything to get her out of that hospital room quicker. It wasn't that she hated hospitals, she knew they had a purpose but she didn't love them either.

"Good." Detective Malone, she took out a notepad. "Can you tell us where you were yesterday afternoon?"

Swallowing she asked them, "Umm, what time?" She'd had gone a lot of places yesterday, the detective needed to be more specific.

"Between the hours of 4 o'clock and 6 o'clock?"

"At the doctors office. Lately I have been having headaches and my parents wanted me to get it checked out." She didn't raise her voice too much, only spoke in a monotone voice, she couldn't get herself to put emotion into what she was saying.

"Have you ever had blackouts?" Both detectives wrote in their notepads while waiting for her answer.

"No. Just headaches." Right like she was going to mention that she had visions of her parent's death. They'd lock her up and not even look back.

Detective Redding nodded and mouthed something but she couldn't make it out. "You told the police earlier that you hadn't arrived home till almost nine thirty. Where else did you go between 6 and when you got home?"

"Walked around the neighborhood for a half an hour, stopped by a friends mother's house, then went to the cemetery, after that I had dinner at the Wendy's a few blocks from the Crashdown then went home."

"Why didn't you just go home after the doctor's appointment?" Redding asked.

"I hadn't been out of the house a whole lot these passed few weeks, it felt good to walk and be outside."

"And what about the friends mother and the cemetery visit?" Malone questioned. She didn't like the way the girls story was unfolding. Her actions gave the impression that she was waiting for her parents to be killed by an assailant before heading home.

"My friends mom has been having a hard time since her daughter disappeared, every once in a while she returns home and I wanted to see how she was doing. As for the cemetery I needed to talk to somebody."

Redding tapped his pen on his notepad. "Who is this someone. Is there any way we can get in touch with them to corroborate your story?"

"Not unless you have a direct line to the great beyond. My friend's been dead for a few months." She blinked back the tears.

"Then why were you there? If he's dead—" Redding began but he was cut off by the victim/suspects outburst.

"Listen he may not be physically there anymore but I still feel him. Alex was my best friend and he's gone—" she was about to continue but instead tried a different approach. "Do you talk to God Detective?" When he nodded she continued, "Why? He's not physically there but yet you still talk to Him. It's the same thing with Alex. It makes me feel better to talk to him and sometimes I need something physical to look at." Breathing heavily she acknowledged that apparently there was one emotion she could still feel and be unashamed and that was anger.

A few more minutes of questioning passed before Jose returned. "You're all checked out." He rose a hand in greeting as he walked over to her bed. In his other hand was a folded pile of scrubs. "The doctors said your clothes were ruined so they got these for you instead."

"Thanks Jose." She fingered the scratchy fabric. Didn't even get her own clothes back the perfect end to her night.

"Where will you be staying Miss Parker? You can't go back to the apartment yet and we'll need to get in contact with you." Malone told her.

"A hotel may be my best bet right now." She sighed.

Jose however had other ideas. "No, you're staying with me and my family."

TBC

Chapter 6 C

Liz swung her gaze to Jose, she should have known he'd offer up a place for her to stay, he always made it his goal in life to take care of 'his girls'. "Jose…"

"Don't argue with me, I know that tone." Liz shut her eyes briefly as he stared down at her. "You're coming to stay with me and Carla—"

"No." She opened her eyes and looked at him straight on. "I appreciate it you have no idea how much but I can't. Carla is going to pop any minute now with your boys and that house is not big enough for all of us." She took the scrubs between her fingers picking at it. "I'll stay at a hotel."

"That's not…"

Again she interrupted him, which irked him. "I'll be fine." Liz turned to the detectives. "So how do you want to handle this?"

"Where are you planning on staying?" Detective Malone asked. If what she felt in her gut was right they'd need to know where to pick her up when it was time to arrest her.

"Haven't thought that far ahead yet." She whispered.

A nurse entered the room, "All of you can wait outside while I get her ready to leave." She shooed the police and Jose outside shutting the door behind her.

Quietly the nurse unhooked the various tubes and electrodes, the only sound that she made were humming a tune that Liz feared would be stuck in her head for the next few hours. "There you go. You can change in the bathroom and I'll keep the others out for a few minutes."

When Liz nodded the nurse left. She stared at the nurse in question until she was out of sight. Wasn't someone supposed to make sure she could stand before leaving the room? Liz thought that would have been logical but then again she hadn't had fantastic experiences with doctors.

Slowly she eased from the bed, the cold floor seeped into her feet as she placed them flat. Liz cradled her broken wrist close and pushed up from the bed, sharp pain shot through her chest, damn ribs. Her ankle throbbed but she could still walk on it.

She made it to the bathroom with little trouble, once she closed and locked the door she put the lid down on the toilet and sat. Deep breaths in and out, her ribs pulsed angrily upset at the constant pressure. Briefly she contemplated staying in the hospital per doctor's orders, but tossed the thought aside as soon as it entered her mind.

Liz sat there staring at the gown she was wearing…how was she going to get it off without causing further injury to her already beaten body. She couldn't exactly reach the loosely knotted string in the back without straining her ribs. Maybe if she pulled it.

With her good hand she tightened it around the front of the hospital gown and pulled. Not only didn't it work but also the strings holding the article of thin cloth closed put pressure on her ribs.

Determined she looked at the gown again, okay she could figure the contraption out, she got straight A's in school she could figure out a simple napkin covering. Or she used to get straight A's before Alex died, after he left the world of the living she was lucky if she got D's on assignments, she hadn't cared any longer.

She swept her eyes down, if it hadn't been so close to the end of the year already she would have failed miserably. Instead she received mostly 'B's and one 'C', her straight 'A' streak went down the drain along with a number of her dreams.

Liz wiggled her good arm back into the armhole then gently lifted and pulled her broken wrist in through the other armhole. With a little bit of pain she lifted her arms up and pushed her head through the neck hole, which was also tied off. Once she was free of the first restriction she was able to let the gown fall to the floor, it barely made any noise as it pooled around her feet.

She let out a breath then picked up the pair of blue green scrubs, it took her a little over five minutes to get everything on. When she exited out of the bathroom Jose pushed away from the sink and let her lean on him as he helped her back to the bed.

"Sure I can't talk you into to staying here a couple more days little one?" He whispered. The detectives watched them closely; Redding jotted down a note to talk to Mr. Hernandez at a later date. They tried to speak to him there while they were outside the hospital room but he refused.

"No, I really want to get out of here." Liz sniffed then hissed. Damn ribs again, those were going to be bothering her for a while longer it seemed.

The doctor gave her a small bottle of painkillers to get her through the first forty-eight hours out of the hospital until she could get the prescription he gave her filled. Then the detectives asked her again what hotel she would be staying at, she told them the Motel 6 a few blocks from her home.

Satisfied the officers left her and Jose alone in the hospital room to get the rest of her things together. "That offer to stay at my place still stands Liz." He helped her stand from the bed and into the wheelchair waiting for her.

"I know…" She fiddled with her fingers. "Really need to be alone right now." Although why she couldn't tell him. If he knew what she planned to do the second he left her alone at the hotel he'd demand she go home with him.

Nodding Jose grabbed the teddy bear while the nurse walking beside them took the flowers he brought and carried them down to his car. He supported Liz as she slid into the passenger side of the car; he handed the wheelchair back to the nurse and rushed to the driver's side of the door.

The ride to the hotel was silent, Liz focused on nothing specific outside the window just watched the desert give way to businesses, then homes, and back to businesses again. Once they pull into the Motel 6 Jose parked in front of the check in doors.

By the time he exited the car Liz had the passenger door open and was working to get out. "I wish you weren't so stubborn." He mumbled more to himself than her.

"Dad's fault." She whispered tears rose but they didn't fall.

It took a few minutes for the woman at the front desk to get her a room; she couldn't take her eyes off the TV screen. Liz couldn't tell what it was but it must be riveting. She paid for the room for three nights. If she needed more she'd pay for more.

Jose asked the woman if there was an elevator to the upper two floors, he wasn't very happy when the woman told him no. Even started to yell at her but quickly stopped when he saw she wasn't paying any attention to him.

They got to her room with little problem, the room wasn't that bad, it looked semi-clean…was that a fly trap? She sat on the bed and sighed in relief, it felt good to get off her ankle.

"Say the word and you're in my car heading to my house." Jose glanced around not liking the surroundings he would be leaving her in. This was no place for her, especially tonight.

"I'm not moving from this spot for a few hours yet." She turned her lips up in a small smile, it didn't reach her eyes but it made him feel a little better.

"I'll come by tomorrow with your pain medication—I'd come by tonight but I have to take Carla to an appointment. If I can I'll swing by." He brushed the hair that had fallen in her face away and behind her ear. "Call me if you need anything. Promise me."

"Promise." Her eyes begin to droop. "Thank you Jose."

"You're welcome." He kissed the top of her head and quietly left the room.

The second the door shut closed behind him Liz's eyes opened. She limped over to the table where she placed her purse and the bear Jose got her. In the side compartment she found what she was looking for. Hard plastic smoothed over her fingertips as she pulled it out, her modified ID from the Las Vegas trip. Michael never changed it back when the got back to Roswell.

When she and Max were still on somewhat good terms she asked him to make it a more believable fake ID, who the hell would believe her name, was Shirley Temple. Maybe if she were three feet tall with curly hair bobbing on top of her head.

Now she was Erica Winterbourne, born in Roswell, NM, and twenty-two years old, able to get into clubs and drink till the cows come home. Her ankle throbbed, she should have chosen a hotel with room service, that way she could order the drinks from her room and not go down the liquor store across the way.

Liz reluctantly decided to wait a few hours before going down and buying out the liquor store. A couple more hours of sleep might help her sore body. She put the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door and locked it back up slipping the chain and deadbolt on before shuffling back to the bed where she promptly fell asleep.

TBC

Note: There are about 7 more updates before this one is up to date I'll post the rest on Sunday and/or Monday.