Chapter Ten

(Maria):

"Hi sweetie," Amy said as she stepped through the front door, and kissed Jim on the cheek. "Hi Maria, Michael..." Stepping into the living room, she paused and sniffed slightly. "How long is it gonna be until dinner?"

"Um, a little over half an hour," Jim said softly. "Lasagne's been in the oven a while, and I just put the pizza in." She smiled faintly... I got my taste for Italian food from my mom, and pizza with lasagne's been a favorite combo since she was little I think. And then, my mom frowned slightly. "Why did you tell me to come over so early?? I mean, I don't mind spending time with all of you, of course, just kind of wondering if there was some sort of..."

"Yeah, mom, we, erm, we kinduv do have an ulterior motive," I blurted out. Michael shot me a look, and I half-shrugged at him. "Um, err..."

"Why don't we all sit down," Jim said, smoothly moving in to try and cover up my flub. "Amy, can I get you a beverage??"

"Yes, err, but I'm not quite sure what," she admitted. "Jim, is this a pink grapefruit juice kind of moment, or more like 'single malt on the rocks'? Or maybe just water... it's a little hard for me to tell when I'm not quite sure what the deal is??" She sat down at one end of the couch.

Jim smiled, just a little awkwardly. "Hmm -- well, how about a fairly light screwdriver??" She thought a bit, and nodded. I gestured that Michael should take the desk chair, and sat at the other end of the couch myself, leaving the spot in between for Mister Valenti. He came back after a few moments, with cokes for Michael and I, and a glass of water for himself. "Okay, err... I guess I'll start. Amy, do you happen to remember... that first time we had dinner, after we met in the school offices and I bumped into you at the Crashdown? What you said about Maria and her friends that night??"

"Umm..." Amy concentrated. "I'm trying to remember, it seems a little familiar but I'm afraid that you're going to have to give me a hint."

"That you felt like you weren't as close with Maria as you used to be, and didn't really understand why Maria and Liz weren't speaking to Alex at the time."

"Okay, yes, I remember now," Amy said, but she still had a very confused look on her face. "Why... why did you bring that up?? That... I mean, that was just everyday teenager stuff, right?? Not something extremely important, but..."

"Not quite, Mom," I put in. "For parents and children to lose touch somewhat as the kids grow up and not completely understand each other, yeah, that's normal. But it wasn't entirely the normal stuff that started happening then, and it definitely wasn't a normal teenager situation that was playing out with Alex at the time." Mom leaned forward slightly so that she could glare at me without Jim getting in the way. "Did... did you ever put together that all of that... that distance, those things I never explained to you, a lot of it started after I met Michael, and Max and Isabel, and started spending more time with them??"

"Umm... well, kind of," she said. "Not that I really realized much about them at the time, but over the next year I realized that you had new friends, and got to meet them, and I just kind of thought that was part of this new thing you were doing, wanting to be more independent." She frowned. "I didn't think that you were doing something with them that you didn't want to tell me about... well, not quite in those terms. Michael, we've had our differences, but I know that you're not a bad young man deep down. And Max and Isabel are... well, come on, I'm starting to get very annoyed and confused at all of this beating around the bush. What exactly are you trying to tell me??"

All three of us, (me, Mister Valenti, and Michael,) exchanged worried looks. We'd all hoped that we could keep my mom from getting impatient like this... so much for wishful thinking. "Okay, I'll tell you," Valenti said. "I want you to try to believe in what I'm going to say, or at least listen with an open mind, and not to overreact once you believe. Above all, please bear in mind that this is information that we've decided to trust you with, and several lives could be ruined if the wrong people get ahold of it." Mom glared at him for a long moment, and then nodded, still looking pretty angry that he was dragging out. "Max, Michael, Isabel, and Tess are, err..."

"We, well, we're not entirely human," Michael said softly, and Amy's head whipped around to stare at him. "Aliens. Hybrids, actually, though things start to get complicated once you mention that. We didn't originate here on Earth, anyway. That's the first out of three things that we have to tell you."

"You, you're... no." Mom shook her head, trying to sort everything out. "Jim said to believe in what he said. Michael, are you asking me the same thing?? You're not... you're not joking with me or... or--"

"We're very serious, mom," I heard myself say in an oddly flat voice.

"Do you want me to show you a few inhuman powers?" Michael asked. "I mean... would that help you accept it?"

"I... I dunno," she whispered. "Go ahead if you think it's a good idea."

Michael shrugged, lifted mister Valenti's glass in mid-air, and started the TV going without the remote. "If you have something that you don't care about, I can try changing its molecules, but..."

"No, let's leave it with those for now," Amy said. "Start telling me your story, the whole truth. Go from the beginning."

Michael took a moment to organize his thoughts, then started to go through the story that was so familiar to me by this point, I paid more attention to my mother's face than his choice of words. Waking up inside the pod, leaving the chamber with Max and Isabel, running away when the Evans found them on the road, getting found by a rancher. Mom asked some question about the details, and prompted Michael for any further details about where they'd come from, and that led him into more and more explanations. After Jim mentioned Pierce, (very vaguely,) and how he'd come to protect our secret, Mom said that she was satisfied and wanted to know what other two things Michael had to tell her

"Okay, I'll say it straight out," I told her. A little voice in my head was urging caution, but I wasn't really listening to it. "I'm pregnant - Michael's the father. We're going to have the baby. And he's asked me to marry him..." I dug the ring out of my pocket and stabbed my finger through it, "...and I said yes. I realize that this isn't really what you wanted for me, but..."

"Ohh, oh -- oh my lord," Mom gasped. "Pregnant... with a partially alien baby?"

"Erm... about quarter Antarian, as near as we can figure out," I muttered lamely.

"I... I can't be here right now," Amy muttered, staggering up from the couch. "DON'T try to stop me," she hissed, turning around to stare at Mister Valenti, who had risen halfway to his feet. "I'm sorry, but I just need some time by myself to come to terms with all of this stuff. I'm not going to call the papers or the army or anyone, but I can't just sit down and have Italian food with the three of you either. And I'll talk to you about all of this later, young lady."

"Oh... okay mom," I muttered. "But just so you remember, we're leaving on the camping trip tomorrow afternoon. Probably the first time that we really are going camping when we say we are."

"Yes, I remember dear." She came back, and I stood back up and we hugged, and she kissed me on the cheek. "I still love you, and I'm doing my best to trust in your judgement. This is just way too much to deal with all at once."

I smirked a little. "Heck, sometime soon I'll tell you how I dealt with the news when Liz first told me... and there wasn't as much of it way back then. Take the time you need."

She nodded. "Jim, I'm really sorry that I have to..."

"It's okay," he told her. "There'll be plenty of leftovers, you can come by and pick some up whenever you like."

My mom grinned. "I think I'll do that... or maybe we can have a little candlelight snack of our own?" Jim smiled too, and nodded. "Thank you... for telling me. I realize my reaction might have been hard on you guys... but I *am* glad that you trusted me with nothing but the truth."

And with that, she left.

For a minute, nobody said anything. The oven timer started to buzz.

"Umm... well, do you guys still want to stay?" Jim asked a little awkwardly.

"Yeah, I could eat," Michael muttered. "Umm... maybe we could call Tess and Kyle, and invite them over? As long as there'll still be leftovers for Miz DeLuca."

Jim smiled. "Yeah, I think that'll be okay. The lasagne's huge, and if we eat all of the pizza, I can whip up another one. There's still grated cheese and sliced toppings in the fridge."

Michael grabbed the phone, I took a seat at the table, and Jim started serving out squares of creamy, cheesy, pasta.

------------

(Kyle):

I rode up to Frazier woods with Tess, Maria, and Michael for the big Fourth of July camping weekend. It was pretty cool once we got there, actually. We got a good site, with some parking, (not a lot, which was why we had to share rides,) and a stretch of riverfront that we shared with one other group, and plenty of space for tents and a fire pit and a portable barbecue grill, a picnic table and all. It wasn't that far from the place that we'd gone for the father and child school trip, but this was a bit more isolated among the patches of forest.

I ended up sharing a tent, once Max went to pick his sister and Alex up from the bus stop. The guys have it lucky, I think - we just have to share with one other, while Liz, Maria, and Ava are all sharing. Isabel and Tess get their own tent for the first night, but then Laurie is supposed to be coming in and sharing with them.

Over dinner, Max made a big introduction for this weird trading game that we're supposed to keep playing all weekend - it's called Haggle, and not only are you trading counters that you can score with, (like playing cards and colored index cards,) but you also start with only a few of the rules that you get scored on, and have to trade with other people to learn more. A few people immediately formed alliances, without making any particular secret about it, like Isabel and Alex, who were off comparing notes in our tent not long after the packages had been handed out. I figured that a little bit more subtlety was called for, so I went out for a walk and by the outhouse on my way back - and sure enough, Tess was waiting around there when I showed up. We do understand each other pretty well after all this time, and came to an agreement with few words spoken out loud. Rather than talk the implications out in detail, we just traded our packages for a little while, and then surreptitiously exchanged back, with notes to each other added inside. I've already started putting together an 'American flag combo.'

First thing the next morning, I woke up to hear feminine voices from the direction of the river shore, and immediately hurried into my suit to go and join in the swim.

--------------

"Umm... I'm glad you decided to come along," I mumbled to Ava, mentally scoring it eight out of ten on the lameness scale. How was it that I could be... well, I thought I was a pretty smooth operator when it came to girls in general. Why did this one chick manage to strip away all of my mojo without even, apparently, trying??

Well... maybe there was the fact that she grew up a punk in Manhattan, of all places. Anybody who's been there and done that could eat small town jocks like me for breakfast. And then, maybe, there was the fact that looking at Ava made my pulse race more than any girl I'd ever tried to put the moves on. That might have something to do with it.

"It's cool," she mumbled casually, flashing me half a smile, and then returning her attention to the middle distance of the path we were hiking along. "This lookout point place seemed interesting. And I didn't really mind an excuse to get out of the entire gang and just spend some one on one time. Umm, with anyone I mean."

Well, that wasn't a bad signal, if not entirely a good one either. "How's living with Michael been so far? And working at the UFO Center?"

"Oh... I haven't forgotten my promise to try and get you a gig there too," she quickly blurted out, and then two very small areas of pinkness showed on her cheeks when I smiled calmly in reply, as she realized that I hadn't been hinting around or nagging about that little detail.

"It's been pretty good, actually, especially the alien museum stuff." She laughed out loud at that. "Been a trip seeing what these guys think about UFOs half the time. As far as Michael... well, he's cool, but I kind of get a weird feeling being around, especially when Maria comes by. I try my best to give them some privacy, you know, but it doesn't always work out. Might try asking Liz if her parents would possibly be okay with me crashing on their couch again. Of course, I don't think they know that I did that the first time I was in Roswell."

"Well, I'm sure that you'll work it out somehow," I said. "I'm glad you decided to stick around town. You know, I didn't even find out anything about the three of you arriving from New York until, well... um, I guess I heard something around thanksgiving, which was a few days before you left, right? When Max was getting ready to attend the Summit."

"Heh?" Ava turned around sharply at that. "But... but Tess was staying with you then, right?? Didn't you wonder about where she'd gone??"

"Not that much," I admitted, looking down at my sneakers. "She left my dad a note, and he just told me that she'd be out of town for a few days or maybe a little more, on... well, he didn't say the words 'alien business' as such. Not sure if I can remember exactly what term he DID use."

"I didn't ask any further... not until I found out that Max was also gone, and that Isabel and Michael were upset that he hadn't told them he would be leaving. That's when I heard the whole deal about the night that you guys came to the center and told them your story." He sighed. "Isabel mentioned that she thought you were still around, but she didn't say any more than that. Not sure if she knew that you were staying with Liz."

"I'm not sure I was, at that point... unless you could the alley out back behind the Crash," Ava admitted. "I was used to bunking down on the street in out of the way places, from the Big Apple. Liz found me the night after Thanksgiving, when she was taking out the trash, and insisted that I come in and get myself cleaned up and fed." She smiled at the kindness that had been shown to her.

"Yeah, that sounds like her," I agreed. "Ooh, okay, I think this is about as close as we can get in the car. I'd better park it, and we can continue on foot."

"Park away." We got out of the car, and I started through a fairly well cleared, but narrow, path through the trees.

"Well, I guess if you hadn't left Roswell the first time," I said after a minute, "you wouldn't have found out about the big Nicholas/Lonnie/Rath team up and been able to come riding in at the last moment and save all our lives... so thanks for that much."

"Well, I'm not sure that your lives were in... Oh, holy shit, I forgot to tell Max or anyone about that part!!"

I jumped slightly, surprised by the slightly contradictory nature of her choice of swear words, not to mention that it was a little unusual being around girls who cursed so freely at all. Waited to see if she would explain further. But she didn't for a long moment, and when Ava realized that I was particularly intent, she mentioned. "Oh, just, umm... I was reminded of something that Rath and Nicholas were trying to put the squeeze on your friends for. Something that it just so happens that I have."

I thought back to that dark afternoon. "The crystal key??"

"Damn, good memory!!"

I smiled. "Always been good remembering things that people have said, for some reason. Okay, so how did YOU get it, and why didn't Rath or Lonnie know it?"

"It's a bit of a long story," she muttered. "Okay, short version - our protector gave it to Zan and told him to be very careful who else he let in on the secret, right before he left. Zan must've had his suspicions about Rath and Lonnie, guess he figured that they weren't above putting their own interests ahead of his, or the good of the group. He told me a little... not enough about how to find it, but I was able to work it out when I was back in New York, about the same time as I found out the terrible twosome had signed on with Nicholas."

"Making it a terrible threesome," I quipped.

"Yeah, totally."

"Alright, well, I guess that's good," I reasoned. "If our guys ever want to duplicate what the bad guys wanted to do - they have the Granilith, and with you, they have the key. Just need to get the book translation done, and they'll be all set."

"Yep," Ava agreed. "So, Kyle..." She trailed off, and looked up me with a self-mocking expression. "Sorry, was just trying to think of something decent to ask. Liz told me some of your story."

"Oh?? I'd be curious to hear what that was," I replied.

"Umm... popular school athlete, she's known you for a few years, hooked up at a fourth of July party, the one and only time Liz has ever had a drink to hear her tell it, and you ran off a senior who was trying to feel her up, and sang 'Love machine' to her in front of your team-mates." I groaned, remembering the retrospective humiliations of that night. "Got very twitchy when Liz started spending more time with Max, the guys from the football team beat Max up, and Liz dumped you."

"You spent a little while trying to figure out what was going on with Max's secret and the rest of the gang, got mixed up in a deadly shootout when they were confronting the head Agent of the FBI Special Unit, and your father accidentally put a bullet into your left lung, tearing the main blood vessel leading from your heart into your lung. Max almost didn't manage to heal you in time to save your life."

I blinked in surprise. "Really? I didn't realize it was that serious... or that time was such a critical factor. Don't really remember anything between hearing the sound of the gunshot and waking up with Max kneeling over me, come to think of it.

"That might have been a hint," Ava pointed out. "Yeah, it was much closer with you than with Liz, say. She was in rough shape, yeah, but she had at least twenty-five seconds to spare." Awkward pause. "Should I continue on?"

"Um, yeah, okay."

"Go away to football camp that summer, come back all Buddhist because you need something new to believe in after your world's been turned upside down, or something like that. And, umm... I guess that's really all of it."

"Okay." There was a silence as we walked on, but this time the quiet seemed a little easier and more... well, I wasn't going to say 'comfortable' because it seems like a cliche, but I can't think of a better word, so yeah. The silence was just slightly comfortable.

Ava told me about some of the other places she's been, and then I realized we were getting close to the hill. It was a pretty steep slope to climb, especially after already having worked up a bit of exercise just walking through the woods, but the view was great. A huge swath of greenery surrounded the peak on all sides, visibly arcing in a kind of a lens or crescent shape. Beyond the woods was rocky desert, the main highway cutting through both to the south, and faraway, a few tiny little buildings - not within Roswell city limits I knew, but just past the edge of town.

"Not a bad set-up," Ava admitted. "You wanna hang here a bit and let it sink in?"

"Sounds really good," I admitted, stealthily casting an admiring glance at Ava's trim body as she admired the actual landscape.

---------------

(Alex):

"Oh, stars above!" The phrase might have been particularly appropriate to the outdoors setting, but wasn't strictly a reference to the night sky visible around their Frazier woods campfire. Amy DeLuca had showed up at our camp just as dinner was being served out, saying that she was ready to learn a bit more about what Maria had gotten herself into, and the truth about these friends of her.

Michael and Maria, with some help from the rest of us, had just finished telling Maria's mother about the most recent evil alien attack, when a powerful Skin and two duplicate hybrids had taken most of the group for hostage... how Ava had helped Michael break free from his bonds: they had killed Nicholas and Rath, and run Lonnie out of town with a warning to never the hell come back to Roswell. Amy had met Ava before this, of course, but she hadn't known the true story of how Tess' 'identical twin' had come to Roswell to stay.

"Yeah, I know," Liz whispered, guessing what was going through her honorary aunt's mind. "It's really scary, especially when stuff like that happens. But..."

"But, for most of you... there's no way to be sure of getting away from the scary stuff," Amy whispered unhappily. "Nobody to call who can help you -- except for a few brave people like Jim who are willing to risk everything for what they believe is right." She turned to Maria. "I... I couldn't understand why you wanted to have anything to do with Michael, when I first found out, never mind... have, having his baby, becoming his wife, when you're so young. I - I think I'm starting to understand it a bit more now. It's not just love, though you certainly have a lot of that, and I hope it'll be strong enough to see you through what lies ahead."

Amy looked around, took a deep breath, and continued. "But... but all of you have been through an incredible experience... an adventure that you're still living. You share a coming of age tale that frankly I'm jealous of, and that suggests that nothing any of us did would be able to tear you apart." She sighed. "I don't think I really want to hear any more alien stories at this point, kids."

"Well, that's okay," Ava pointed out, "because that one was pretty much the last really interesting thing that happened. We'd have to go back further, and face it - that's always more than a bit confusing, skipping back and forth through time. When telling a story, or watching a movie, you know. Whatever."

"How about a few songs, then," Maria suggested. "Campfire songs, before you go back home, Mom."

"Umm... sure, sounds good to me," Amy agreed.

"Can anybody think of any good ones?" Max asked.

"Down by the bay," Kyle immediately sang out, "Where the watermelons grow..."

"Back to my home," Ava joined in, and with some chuckling, the rest of the group started to sing. Michael suggested 'John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt' and Maria taught us a round about working in a chemical factory that she called 'the process man.'

"Alright, one more, and then we go to bed," Isabel suggested. "Anybody think of a good one?"

"I..." Ava spoke up shyly. "I can think of a really good song, but it's not a traditional campfire song. For one thing, it's an instrumental."

Amy DeLuca blinked, but then nodded encouragingly. "Well, this doesn't sound like any kind of night for sticking to tradition very much. What's the song."

"It -- it's called Chasing rain," Ava said, nervous now.

"Yeah, I've heard it," I said. "Might even be able to figure out how to play the line. But that song was written for a huge band with a bunch of fiddles, and a piano, and a tall double bass, and drums and step-dancers... none of which we really have here."

"Oh, psshaw," Maria waved a hand. "First things first... do we have ANY instruments here?"

"Yeah, I've got my acoustic guitar," I admitted. "Thought it might come in handy at some point." Looked over at Isabel after i said that, and she smiled.

"I've got a kind of a whistle flute," Ava put in.

Maria moved sideways a bit on the wooden bench, so that she was sitting just behind another one where they overlapped. "I've got a makeshift drum here." And she hit the wooden surface with the heel of one hand and the back edge of the other, which did create some pretty impressive percussive notes. Tess, who had been sitting near to the part of the bench that Maria was playing drums on, got up and circled round the fire until she found a free spot, sitting down near Mrs. DeLuca.

"Do you know the song close enough to do the rhythm?" I asked Maria, once I had my guitar, and while Ava was still looking for her whistle.

"Umm... I was hoping I could pick it up from you," she said.

"Yeah, I'll try to cue you in," Ava said. "Just remember, the beat is an important part of the song. Above all else... try to think of horses."

"Horses?"

"You'll see... if this works," I assured her. "Okay, Ava... umm, I start?"

"Yeah, please." She held her whistle, but didn't bring it to her mouth, and I started to strum a chord. Quite quickly, the music that I'd heard weeks ago came back strongly to mind, and it wasn't hard to adapt the second fiddles' line to my guitar. (Yes, it sounds a little weird, but the "second fiddle" plays first... at least I think it's appropriate to call it the second fiddle, because the other part is tougher.) There was a long intro for me to play through, with Maria just keeping a fairly traditional drumbeat, and Ava not joining in yet... I smiled, trying to do more than just play the right notes and chords, but project the spirit and essence of the song, conveying the setting... the desert, just like the New Mexico plains lying not far from this wooded vale. The still of desert night, the beauty of desert morning, the beauty of desert morning... calm and still, peaceful.

As his first passage came to an end, Ava took up the 'first fiddle's line on her whistle with flawless timing, and more than a little natural musical flair that I hadn't realized she had. That was the way this entire song worked, the melody shifting from one fiddler to the other, or in our case between the guitar and the whistle, each taking our turns, with the drums supporting both.

This section, the desert mid-morning, was where the horses part began, a group setting out to ride, and Maria began to syncopate her drum beat as I faded back into the supporting, harmonic role. Ava's fingers flew over the whistle stops as she tried to keep up with the dizzyingly fast high melody, of fast galloping and dusty ground falling far behind. I took a turn with the low melody next, and it wasn't static any more, though not quite as dynamic as Ava's passage had been perhaps... desert late morning, a slow, and a brisk walk to recover breath. Perhaps some talking and joking between the riders as they walked alongside their horses, to match the lighthearted melody. And just at the end of the walk, spotting what they were hunting... clouds on the horizon.

We switched back and forth again, several more times... dashing hard through the heat of the day, on Ava's high melody, the horses running so hard and fast that it wasn't even quite a gallop any more, another break for a rest, though not as much of a rest as it had been, still going at a fairly brisk canter, as I took my turn with the low melody again. Galloping hard for a stretch again, as the desert day moved into afternoon, with Ava playing the high melody again, and then she let that fade away, but I didn't start the low melody again, and for a little bit we just played our harmonic lines at the same time. Something new had happened. What was it? I figured that they had come - to the top of a canyon.

Maria kept the beat going, and I started to step out of the harmony, but only a little bit, here and there. Slowly, ever so slowly moving down some kind of trail or narrow path down into the canyon. Walking through the unexpected oasis... letting the horses drink from a river that wounds its way through the valley. This was where the piano line came to the fore, although we didn't have a piano, so-- well, I was taking the piano melody, to start. Walking slowly through the valley, enjoying the beauty of some woods that had grown up there, maybe. After several measures there was a good opening to let Ava take over the piano line, where her whistle could better handle the dizzying climb into higher octaves, just as the horseback party came to the mouth of the valley and saw -- rain, falling only a few miles away!

Back into the low melody again, as the party rode through the desert afternoon towards the storm, and the high melody of victory and celebration, riding right into the downpour itself. Everybody's faces, including those of the three of us who were playing, seemed to be taken by surprise, lost in the wonder of the music. Ava stopped her whistling suddenly, and I was able to remember just in time that this was the way the song ended to not run over the end, but Maria played an extra measure and a half on the drums before clueing in.

"I... I'll see you in a few days, dear," Amy said to Maria, breaking the hushed silence that rolled in over the campsite for a long moment. She got up from her seat and smiled at the assembled company.

"Mom, you, um..." Maria didn't seem to be sure what to say.

"It - it's better this way," Mrs. DeLuca said softly, and melted back into the night, towards the parking lot.

"Let me grab a flash and walk you to your wheels," Michael insisted.

"Umm, alright," Amy's voice agreed, and Michael hurried off to his tent to get a light.

"Yeah, I think that was a good 'note' to say goodbye on," Liz punned. "Anything else would be anticlimatic. Umm, anticlimactic, I mean, with three c's."

"Wait a second, what's the difference?" Kyle asked, as Max got up to get the fire bucket.

"Anticlimatic," Isabel informed him, "would be 'having to do with the opposite of large-scale weather conditions'... or something like that. Maybe 'not having to do with any weather conditions at all.'"

"Well, singing more songs *wouldn't* have to do with any weather conditions," I put in cheekily, "so maybe it's that too."

"No," Ava joked. "If a thunderstorm started, you'd stop singing and dash for cover, right? That makes it slightly climatic."

Liz groaned. "Goodnight, everybody."

As I crawled into the tent, Isabel tackled me with a passionate kiss, then started to change for bed.

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(Maria):

"So, how was your shift?" Michael asked me as we climbed into the car.

"Ehh, okay." I sighed. "Max, Brody, and this other guy came in for pie and coffee, and stayed over two and a half hours. Liz's father was sitting with them for some of the time." I shrugged. "Aside from that, nothing really sticks out... it was just busy."

Michael nodded. "Do you have to go back home right away?"

"Yep. Time to face the music."

"Alright, then I'm coming with you," he replied instantly.

"No." I sighed. "No, love, you're not. I know my mother. She appreciates that you were by my side when we first told her... and I do too. And obviously you were there when she came out to the campfire. But this is a conversation that we have to have by ourselves - woman to woman." I leaned over to softly kiss him on the cheek. "Don't worry darling - everything will be okay."

Michael didn't look terribly pleased as he dropped me off, but I waited until he put Bronto in gear and drove away. Mom was waiting exactly where I'd somehow expected her, sitting on her bed propped up with her pillow covering the headboard and her knees lifted slightly, a mug half full of hot chocolate sitting on the end table beside her. I climbed up onto the foot of her bed and crossed my legs into a half-lotus. "So."

She smiled slightly at me. "Do... do you remember the morning that I caught Michael in your bed??"

"Not terribly likely to ever forget anything about that day," I pointed out, and she smiled weakly. "After he left, you told me that you knew your history with men had been a train wreck, and you'd be damned if you let me make the same mistakes."

"Yeah." Mom sighed. "I... I still don't want that. But I think lately I've come to terms with the idea that as much as I want to protect you, I can't make your decisions for you out of fear. And as much as what's going on between you and Michael worries me... there's no particular reason that it can't all work out, and make you very happy and fulfilled for the rest of your life." I blinked in surprise.

"Was... was that you saying that you don't particularly disapprove of our plans?" I asked with an odd cock of my head.

"Wouldn't go quite that far," she grumped. "But... you're really pregnant?" I nodded. "You really mean to have the baby and raise him or her yourselves?" Second's pause, and then I nodded again. "You're engaged, and you both mean to go through with the wedding, for keeps? Death do you part??"

"Umm... yeah, at least, I feel that strongly about it, and though I usually don't like to speak on Michael's behalf, I'm pretty sure that he does too."

"Then what does my approval or disapproval matter?"

"Well..." I took a deep breath. "To pick three things off the top of my head, I want you to be there for my wedding... either to walk me up the aisle or stand by my side as a bride's maid - I haven't quite made up my mind about which, or both." Mom chuckled. "I... I want you to be there when my child is born, and for him or her to never be far from Gabba DeLuca through the years. If... if your disapproval would..."

"No," Mom interrupted. "Never think that. I may be nervous about your choices, but NOTHING will ever make me step away from your life or your family, darling girl." She leaned forwards, her body nearly turning over as she hurried to embrace me. "I still want to do all of that and more." She took a deep breath. "Though... I admit I'm worried that you're going to go far enough away that I won't be able to."

"What... what do you mean?" I asked nervously.

"Well... Michael's heritage," she said ominously. "Come a day, he might have to... to leave, to travel to another planet or something, right? And you... if you really meant what you said about making a marriage work, then you'll be going with him. But... but even if I get the invite, even if it's for your sake, there's no way that I could..."

"Right, I get it. And I think you can relax - none of us are going to be leaving the planet anytime soon." But why did that scene seem so oddly familiar: Michael and I arriving on an alien world together... even making wedding plans there? Was it just because of the stuff that Alex was doing up in Las Cruces, and Max's search for flying saucers, that had me thinking of interstellar journeys.

"By the way, Mom," I said, wanting to change the subject. "Last year, when you were telling me how bad your decisions about men had been... did you ever think that you and Mister Valenti would be getting married??" She looked at me - and started to laugh.

"No, I have to admit that I didn't... and that steps on my point just a little. You can never tell when things are going to work out for the best after all... at least, I really think that they're working out for the best now."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Which is probably why you're not getting any madder at me than this?" She considered, and nodded in agreement. "So... have you had dinner yet?"

"Not really... been nibbling on stuff since the late afternoon."

"Mom!" I sighed. "If you want to still fit into that dress, you need to remember to eat smart. Come on - there are those skim-cheese frozen pizzas in the freezer, and we can chop our own fresh toppings."

"Alright," she agreed, standing up. "I guess you've got to eat smart, too, with the little one to think about." I nodded. "And maybe I'll crumble just a little bacon onto one of the pizzas. As a special treat."

I smiled and followed her towards the kitchen. "So, what was the rest of your weekend like?" she continued.

"Really great," I said. "I loved spending some time with Laurie, and we took a raft down the Frazier valley river and came ashore just outside the edge of the woods where this really small and old-fashioned carnival had set up. Ohh, and some of Alex's friends issued us a challenge for horseback capture-the-flag... that was yesterday, and we totally kicked butt. Liz got the flag, though about half the team had to sacrifice themselves to prepare the way for her..."

"Horseback?" Mom repeated. "You, you didn't get up and ride, I mean..."

"In my fragile condition?" I said, and she chuckled. "Actually, no, I was a bit worried too, even though Michael said it shouldn't be a problem, but I've never been that big a fan of horses. I was on defense, and actually I got killed before the really exciting action, but still I had fun."

"Alright, if you say so."

"And we mentioned the trading game, right? Alex won it, and got this big-screen TV, which Max and Michael found in a place they think Rath and Lonnie were using as their lair. Spoils of war, you know, but he's not sure what he's going to do with it, it's too big to easily pack for Las Cruces..."

TO BE CONTINUED...