Aliens & Demons Pt. 25: Epilogue – How Soon Is Now?
Author's Note: Here's the epilogue, sorry it took so long for me to get it up. Thanks again to everyone who read and especially who reviewed this story; I hope you've enjoyed it.
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"Liz, over here!" Maria called, catching her friend's eye and motioning her over to the table where she and Alex were seated.
"I so disloyal to my family for coming here," Liz muttered, scanning the small diner as she came to sit down. "Why couldn't we have done this at the Crashdown?"
"Liz, we're there for hours every week. You live there. Don't you want to get out on your day off?" Maria asked.
"Well, yes," Liz admitted, "but did we have to come to the only other alien-themed restaurant in Roswell? This place is my family's biggest competition." She motioned behind her, toward the stenciled silver-and-blue planets and galaxies adorning the walls.
"Well, sorry, but it was either this or Senor Chow's, and that place is now ruined for me after that horrible double date we had there last year," Maria replied. "Besides, this place isn't alien-themed, it's space-themed. Big difference. Anyway-"
"What can I get you guys?" A waitress broke in, looking boredly down at them.
"Some fries and a Milky Way shake, please?" Maria asked.
"I'll have a slice of Mars Mud Pie and a Pepsi," Alex added.
"Will do," the waitress said. "Anything for you, hon?" she asked, looking down at Liz.
"Just a coffee," Liz muttered.
"Alright, I'll be back in a few minutes with your orders; here's the coffee," the waitress said, grabbing a carafe of coffee from the nearby drink station and setting it down on the table before she walked away.
"Thanks," Maria said as the waitress left. Then she shifted her eyes to Liz and Alex. "All right, let's do this."
"Right. So, any news from the sisters?" Liz asked as she emptied a plastic container of creamer into her coffee.
"Nothing big. Leo and Cole are both trying to get info from the Elders and the Underworld, respectively. So far, no one knows much of anything about what Project Endgame is other than what we've already figured out."
"That's so weird," Liz muttered. "Some big organization that's been in operation for thousands of years and no one knows anything? How do you just hide your existence like that?"
"Building your headquarters in a different dimension is probably a good start," Alex pointed out. "What about Andrea, or whoever she really was? Any ideas about what happened to her?"
Maria shrugged. "Isabel said that she saw her chest moving when she came out of the dreamwalk, so she's not dead, despite how it looked in my crazy, drug-induced hallucination. But Isabel never brought Saffron out of the dreamwalk, so . . ."
"So, what?" Liz asked, frowning. "She's alive, just, like, trapped in your subconscious?"
"Now there's a truly frightening prospect," Alex mused.
"Do you want to get hit?" Maria asked, raising her hand.
"Oh, and didn't you say that Piper wanted to talk to you about something? What was going on there?" Liz asked.
"Oh, right!" Maria exclaimed, grinning widely and bouncing in her seat a little. "How could I have forgotten? So apparently, Piper's booked Nelly Furtado to play her club in a few weeks, and she offered to let me do a couple songs before the opening act comes on to be, like, the opener for the opener for Nelly Furtado."
"Maria, that's great!" Liz exclaimed, hugging her friend.
"One Milky Way, one order of fries, one Mars Mud, a Pepsi, and a coffee," the waitress said, coming up to the table. "Holler if you want anything else; if not, pay up front when you're ready."
"Oh, and I almost forgot," Maria said, taking a sip from her shake and then looking at Alex as the waitress walked away. "What's the story with you and Miss Isabel? That was some kiss she gave you."
"Wait, wait. Back up," Liz demanded. "Isabel kissed you? How have I not heard about this?"
"It was right before we went back into Project Endgame to get you guys," Maria explained. "It was pretty hot too, I've gotta say. So, what's the deal? Is she finally gonna make a man out of our little Alexie-wexie?"
Alex rolled his eyes, but a smile was playing at the corners of his mouth. "We're just taking it slow. You know, hang out a few times, go to prom together-"
"You asked her to the prom?" Maria squealed.
"Actually, she asked me," Alex said. "But yeah, we're going together. Let it never again be said that Alex Whitman is a lightweight of the dating world."
"Yeah, try to contain your ego for a few minutes more, at least," Liz said, smiling. "Not all of us have our prom dates all sewn up."
"Liz, just ask Max," Maria said. "It doesn't have to be some weird, soulmate-y thing. Just say, 'you know, we've had our issues, but you're my friend, and I know you can dance, and my only viable alternative is Kyle Valenti, so how about we go to the prom together?'"
Liz laughed, and Alex raised an amused eyebrow. "When you guys are done," he said, "I was wondering how things were going with Maria's pecial-say owers-pay."
Maria shrugged and stirred her milkshake absently. "It's okay, I guess. I think I've gotten it mostly under control so far, although Leo has assured me that I still have a long way to go before my, uh, talents are at the same place Prue's were. She got a second ability eventually too, so it's likely that I'll get something new to figure out as soon as I finally get full control of this whole taxidermy thing."
Liz frowned. "I'm sorry, taxidermy? Did I miss something?"
"Well, I can't just talk about . . . you know," Maria mimed waving something across the room with her hand, "if I don't have a code word for it."
"Well, okay," Liz conceded, "but taxidermy? Really? That's what you came up with?"
Maria sighed. "If it really bugs you, I can use, like, jump-roping or something."
Liz caught Alex's eye and the two shared a brief look of amusement. "No, no, taxidermy is fine," Liz said.
"Anyway, I'm getting better. I haven't flung anymore jars of preserved food at whiny customers, so I'd say I'm getting control."
"The cherry thing was you!" Liz exclaimed, eyes widening. "Well, obviously. I can't believe I didn't put two and two together earlier."
"Yeah, sorry about that, by the way," Maria replied. "I didn't even realize that I was a wit- I mean, taxidermist at the time. Oh, and for the record . . ." Maria paused, examining the silver-speckled tabletop. "I'm also sorry that I didn't tell you what was going on, Liz."
Liz shrugged and gave her a faint smile. "Its fine, I get why you couldn't. I'm sorry I was so hard on you."
"But I do trust you, Liz." Maria insisted. "I hated not telling you what was up. Especially when the whole April thing happened . . ."
Liz frowned. "What do you mean?"
Maria cringed. I forgot to tell her. How could I forget to tell her? "Well, we don't know for sure, but we think that April was a taxidermist, like Phoebe and Piper and I. There was an, um . . . animal rights activist in town who-"
"Maria, I think you can stop with the taxidermy metaphor for the moment," Alex interrupted. "This place is pretty dead."
Maria glanced around the café, which was, as Alex had pointed out, nearly empty. She nodded, but leaned in and began speaking in a low voice nonetheless. "Okay, so there was this demon who we think wanted to get to me and kill me before I was a full-fledged Charmed One. He was basically just killing any witch he could find, and that happened to include April. He even had a date set up with-" Maria stopped short and glanced at Alex. "Uh, never mind, that's not important. Anyway, we, you know, stuffed him and mounted him, to speak as a taxidermist would."
Liz blinked. "Wow." She was silent for a moment.
"Liz?" Maria ventured, unsure how to interpret her friend's silence.
"I mean, don't get me wrong, it's great that you guys took him out," Liz assured her. "It's just . . . what if it had been you the demon had gotten to, instead of April?"
Maria bit her lip. "It wasn't," she said, "and it's not going to be. Don't worry."
Alex looked at Maria and Liz's somber faces, and a slow smile began to cross his face.
Maria raised an eyebrow at him. "Uh, Alex? We're trying to have a moment here."
"Yeah, I got that," Alex admitted. "Sorry. I just keep picturing you with a demon stuffed and mounted in your room."
Liz and Maria stared at him for a moment, and then Maria burst into laughter. Liz looked at Alex and Maria and a smile spread across her face. She threw an empty container of creamer at Alex. "You're a terrible person, you know that?" she asked, but she was wearing an amused expression.
"I have a prom date who might beg to differ," Alex replied.
Liz rolled her eyes. "Why do I feel like you'll bringing that up at every possible opportunity right up until prom?"
"Probably because I will be," Alex said.
Maria smirked and took a sip of her milkshake. And for the moment, at least, all thoughts of aliens and demons flew out of her brain to make room for the prom-riddled banter of her two best friends.