Chapter 37


"Why couldn't I tell her?" Max asked Maria.
Maria squeezed his hand. "Max. I know what you want me to tell you, but I can't tell you the things you want to hear."
"Tell me anyway," Max said. One of the things he'd always appreciated about Maria was her honesty. He always knew where they stood, because she always told him what she thought. If he had done something good she told him, and if he had messed up she let him know that too.
"I know that you like Liz. No…like is the wrong word. Anyone would only have to take one look at you two together to see that you are in love with each other. Even Michael can see it. That's why he's being such a jerk. He's afraid he'll lose you. You are the one we have always been able to count on, Max. You were the responsible one and you kept the other three of us on track."
Max sighed. "What's with the past tense?"

"That was before you left to follow that premonition to New York. After that you changed, and I guess that scared us all. I got over it but Isabel and Michael are still trying to cope. You have to see their side of the story. You've always planned ahead. You more or less abhorred impulsive actions and then you suddenly just disappear in the middle of the night, without a neatly numbered list of your plan of actions or even a note. You scared the hell out of your sister and you pissed Michael off because that was the last thing they expected you to do. They have these expectations of you that you have to live up to, otherwise they don't know what to do. It's the expectations they are trusting. I know that you would be freaked out if Michael one day started to act very responsible and very calm. I know I would. I would probably start checking his temperature and fill him with anesthetic. Anyway, the thing is that they don't know if they can trust what you're doing anymore. They are afraid that in the flip of the moment you will tell Liz everything about them. They don't know Liz the way you do and let's be honest. Do you know her as well as you would like to?"

"No," Max said, "But I never expected to know a person very well after only a couple of weeks anyway."
"That's my point, Max. You might be in love, but you don't know how she would react if you told her that you were an alien. You have to understand that Michael and Isabel are afraid of what will happen if she doesn't react the way you want her to react."
"I understand that," Max said, "I do. It's just... Even though I don't know what she likes in her coffee or even if she drinks coffee at all, I know her."
"Max, you don't know a person just because you fall in love with her-"
"No, but Maria. This is different. I don't know if it's an alien thing-"
"Probably."
"But I can see inside of her. I can feel her. Do I make any sense at all?"
"Not really. But go on."

"I can feel her feelings. I can feel how she feels when I'm kissing her."
"But this only happens when you're kissing?"
"Yes, it must be our heightened feelings at that moment or something."
"Aha," Maria contemplated, "Do you know what she's thinking?"
"No, only what she's feeling. I don't know the thoughts behind the feelings."
"And does she feel the same way?"
"Evidently. At least that's what I understood from what she was telling me earlier."
Maria paused, trying to sort her thoughts. "Max. I'm not saying that I don't think you're not in love with Liz, because I really do think you are. But... If you know how she feels about you when you kiss her, why didn't you tell her?"
"I couldn't."
"Why?"
Max leaned back in the couch, covering his face with his palms in a frustrated sigh. "Because I want to protect her."
"Exactly. You are only doing this for her."
"But we don't know if I'm making the right decision. My premonitions are telling me that I should watch over her. That something bad is going to happen. Should I go against my instincts?"

"No, you shouldn't," Maria said adamantly.
Max removed his hands and looked at her. "So...?"
"So?"
Max sighed. "Help me out here, Maria. Did I do the right thing?"
"I don't know. It's the responsible part of you that is colliding with your instincts and before now that has been a good thing because if you'd followed your instincts then you would be in a laboratory somewhere because you blasted some guy in high school. But now... I don't know. Maybe it's time for you to follow your instincts."
"She doesn't trust me."
"No, you don't trust her. She told you that herself. She trusts you. She's just incredibly hurt. Weren't you hurt when you tried to get her to open up to you about her nightmares and she wasn't letting you?"
"Of course I was."
"It's the same thing. You are both trying to help each other, trying to look out for each other. You both care so much but you aren't even meeting halfway. You are making a mess of something that could be really beautiful."

"So, what are you saying?"
"That you should follow her to New York."
"What about Michael and Isabel?"
"They'll come around. I'll take care of them."
"If I go to New York I earn Liz an apology and the truth."
"Yes, you do," Maria said seriously.
"Michael and Isabel are going to kill me," Max groaned.
"Well, it might be a couple of tough days," Maria grimaced, "but just follow your heart about Liz. If you think that she can handle the truth and that she is probably safer if she does know, then tell her and she probably won't disappoint you. Michael and Isabel just have to learn not to be so pig-headed."
"You really think I should go?"
"Yes," Maria stated matter-of-factly.
"It's the right thing." It was not a question, but a truth he had known for some while.
"If your heart tells you that it's the right thing, then it is," Maria said.
Max rose from the couch and put his arms around Maria. "Thank you, Maria," he hugged her close, "Thank you for always listening to my crap."
"You welcome," Maria said, touched, "I would do anything for you. You know that, right?"
"Right back atcha," Max mumbled.

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"Mr. Smith? Hi, this is Elizabeth."
"Hi, Elizabeth! It's so nice to hear from you. How's the vacation going?"
"Fine, it's been great. I took a trip to Roswell, New Mexico."
"Oh, that sounds like a nice trip. Did you meet many aliens?"
Liz smiled. "Some...but only plastic ones."
Mr. Smith chuckled. "Did you visit someone there?"
"Um... yeah. You know that man that came to my office a couple of times?"
"The man with the epileptic seizures?"
"Yes, that's him. He's the one I visited. He comes from Roswell."
"That sounds really great. I hope you had time to relax."
"Yes, I did, and now I'm back."
"Already?" The surprise was clear in his voice.
"Well, I got restless and I really needed to start working again."
"How are you feeling, Elizabeth? Are you feeling better? You were in a pretty bad shape when you left."
"I guess the desert air was good for me. I'm feeling really relaxed and rested and ready to go back to work. Do you have something for me?"

"Well, you can always continue with your old assignments. Or I have this new assignment. I was going to give it to David, but maybe you can take it instead. You have more experience."
"What is it about?"
"Denman Constructions is building a new apartment complex in town and we are going to plan the whole thing."
"That's great!" The company usually only got one house to plan, not a whole apartment complex. This was big and it was too tempting for Liz to say no.
"What do you say? Are you game?"
"Definitely," Liz answered.
"Great! Can you come over tomorrow so that we can look over the prospects?"
"I'll be there," Liz smiled.

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"Why Max?"
"I just have to go. I have to see Liz again, mom."
"I don't understand. Why didn't she stay in here in Roswell? I thought she was going to stay the whole week."
"Something happened."
"Did you have a fight?"
"Something like that. Mom, I just need to fix things between us. I can't leave it like this."
"Can't you just call her on the phone?"
"I can't tell her what I need to tell her over the phone," Max answered, "I need to go there, mom. Can't you understand that?"
His mom reached across the table and squeezed his hand. "Of course I can understand that, Max. I just don't want you to travel to New York and back to Roswell all the time. And what about the university? Are you still applying?"
"Of course, mom. I'm just going there to sort some things out with Liz. I'm not moving there or anything."
The image of Max and Liz in an intimate eye-locking moment flashed through Mrs. Evans mind and she gave Max an easy smile. "Of course you aren't. I'm just worried about you. You're an adult now and I just have to learn how to let you go. Just be careful, okay?"
"I always am," Max smiled, "Thank you, mom. For always looking out for me."
Mrs. Evans smiled warmly. "It's my pleasure."

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She felt weird.

She had felt weird ever since she had left Roswell behind. And Max. Her inner state was a mess and she was having trouble getting control of her feelings, which was something at she had always excelled. She had to pull it together.

She walked up to the office door and lightly knocked her knuckles against the wood.
"Yes?"
Opening the door, she poked her head inside to find her boss sitting behind his impressive desk. "Hi Mr. Smith."
Mr. Smith's face cracked in a big smile and he quickly rose from his seat. "Hi Elizabeth," he walked up to Liz and pulled her into a fatherly hug, "Welcome back!"
"Thank you," Liz whispered, mocking his gesture by gasping for air.
"I'm so glad to have you back and so are our customers." He let her go and Elizabeth watched in fascination of how quickly he changed into a businessman. "Come here."
Liz stepped up beside him and accepted the documents he was placing in his hands.
"These are the ideas from the company, but they are really giving us a free hand for this."
"That's great," Liz sifted through the papers, blueprints of the apartments already forming inside her head.

"You're already forming ideas, aren't you?"
Liz nodded with a self-conscious smile. "I couldn't help but start planning yesterday after I got off the phone with you and it seems as if my planning mostly corresponds to what the customer is asking for."
"I knew you wouldn't disappoint me," Mr. Smith said.
He watched her look through the notes and the sketchy blueprints. "Since it's such a big project and it's being built downtown, we will have to look at the construction site before starting to map too much out."
"Right," Liz said. That was only normal. The architecture needed to blend in with the surrounding buildings as well.
"I was thinking we could take a look at it later this afternoon."
"Sure, that's fine with me," Liz agreed.
"Great. I'll be at a meeting until then though, so you just go there without me and I'll meet up with you as soon as the meeting is over."
Liz smiled. "I think I can handle that."
"Great," Mr. Smith moved around the desk and sat down again.
"I should get working then." Liz closed the file and looked up at Mr. Smith.
"You do that. Just tell me if you think it's too much. We don't want a repeat of what happened before."
"I won't overwork myself, I assure you."
"Good."

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"Flight 230 to New York has been canceled. Passengers are asked to please report to the front desk. Flight 230 to New York has been canceled. Passengers are asked to please report to the front desk."
Max nervously glanced at his watch before making his way over to the reception to book a new flight. Why was his whole body trembling with nervous energy?

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The house was old. It should have been torn down ages ago, but somehow no one had gotten around to doing it. She was having trouble getting the door open because the lock was jammed, probably due to the major rust damages it must be suffering from. The hinges creaked as the door was stiffly opened and she was met with the musty smell of unaired house. Dust twirled up in the air, teasing her nose and making it want to sneeze. She could see footprints in the dust covering the floors. They were probably from people from the company walking around to inspect the place.

The house was empty, as could have been expected. She slowly let her gaze drift over the dark hallway and linger on the dark wood of the frail looking stairs. It was a normal house that had been abandoned. It seemed like years since someone had lived here. Her steps echoed hollowly off the walls as she stepped inside and started to move through the hallways. The loud bang of the door closing behind her made her jump and her head quickly moved to find the door closed behind her. Somehow that made her feel even more uneasy.

The feelings of unease had been in her system all day, but she had blamed it on her leaving Roswell and being back in New York. At least the sun was shining today. She looked through the open door on her left to find the kitchen. A piece of plastic was hanging over a table and a couple of chairs in a pathetic attempt to cover up the furniture. The sunshine was barely slipping in through the cracks between some planks someone had nailed over the windows, which prevented the sunlight from entering the dark, murky place. She could smell the mold and the stuffy old wetness that one encounters in very wet marshlands. It wasn't fresh, like a summer morning after a night's rain, but closed up and captured, being used and reused Flowing through the same furniture, softening them with the help of water and wood-eating creatures.

Liz leaned against the stairs and pulled the bag off her shoulder. Maybe she could just forget about where she was and that feeling of dread at the pit of her stomach if she just focused on something else. She barely got the chance to open up the file before she heard a noise coming from the door. She gasped and her heart lurched in her throat. She worriedly looked towards the door. The logical and reasonable voice in her head was telling her that she was being silly. It was in the middle of the day and the sun was shining outside. She was in the middle of New York, not in some spooky house out in the wastelands with lightning and thunder ripping through the air. Besides, it was probably only Mr. Smith arriving. When the door opened to reveal who had been standing there, it sent her heart pounding painfully in her chest and she got the sudden instinctive urge to run out of there.

It was David.

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Why did he feel so uneasy? As if he should be looking over his shoulder the whole time so that no one could catch him off guard. He barely dared to think about the answers his instincts were already providing him with. It was Liz. Liz was in danger. And he might just be too late this time.

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"Mr. Smith couldn't make it. The meeting ran overtime and he called me and told me to meet you here. Is that okay with you?"
"Um...yeah." Liz hoped she didn't look as frightened as she felt. She needed to appear strong, to show that she had the upper hand, because she had a really bad feeling that something was going to happen. Something bad.
"Then, let's get to work," David grinned and walked past her. Liz jumped as she felt his hand brush against her breast. It wasn't an accidental touch, but very intentional. Liz could feel it in the way his hand lingered there.
"Actually," she swallowed, and took a discreet step away from him, and forced herself to strengthen her voice, "I think I can handle this. I just need to go over the ideas from the customer and look at the buildings and the site some more."

David stopped and turned around to face her. His cold blue eyes made Liz take an involuntary step backwards. "Liz, if you're going to go over that all by yourself you are going to be here until late tonight. And you don't want to be here at night, do you?"
"I can do some tomorrow. I think I have time for that," Liz objected, not even thinking about being foolish enough to correct him for calling her Liz instead of Elizabeth.
She watched him start to move towards her and she felt her legs move backwards with as many steps as he took forward. But there are just so many steps to take inside a building and soon she found herself pressed up against one of the old murky walls as David got closer and closer.

"No need to drag this out, Lizzie," David said slowly. His voice was in strong contrast to his eyes. Warm against cold. Life against death.
"Really, I'm fine," Liz said, stretching her body in an effort to slim out against the wall, trying to make the wall absorb her.
"Let's talk about what we really want to do," David said. Liz shivered as his cold hand touched her cheek. Tears of fear stung her eyes as she felt his finger menacingly drag along the line of her jaw.
"I don't know what you're talking about." One last try. One last thread of hope that of all her instincts were wrong and that he didn't really mean what his actions were telling her he meant.
"Oh yes you do. You and me, Elizabeth."

As his fingers brushed against her lips she opened her mouth, hoping that he would take the bait. She wanted to gag as she felt his finger entering her mouth and then she bit down. Hard. Her teeth sunk into his flesh and a warm liquid filled her mouth. Blood. His blood.
"You bitch," David cried, but Liz didn't waste any time. As soon as David removed his finger from her mouth to get it away from her teeth she was running towards the door. It is ironic really how the swelling of an old wooden door, caused by the same water she had spent most of her life avoiding, would decide her faith.

The door was stuck and she couldn't get it open in time before she felt his arms close around her waist.
"Nooo!" she cried, struggling to get out of his grip. He flung her down against the cold floor and the impact resounded through her whole body.
"Please, David. Please, don't."
"You should have known better than to reject me. You thought you were so clever and so alluring when you pretended not to want me."
He had her trapped between his thighs. Her hands were immobilized behind her head by one of his hands while the other one was busy ripping her shirt open.
"No!" she cried, a new strength in her voice and she pushed at him in another attempt to get him off of her. She wasn't going to let this happen. He had no right to do this to her. Her fear was slowly turning into anger and she could feel an energy beginning to boil inside of her.
"I know you wanted me. From the first time you laid your eyes on me I could see that you were trying to tempt me with your short whore skirts."

He made it impossible for her to move. She couldn't hurt him anywhere. She couldn't stick her fingers in his eyes as she had seen on a documentary about how to deal with rapist once. She couldn't knee him in the crotch. She was trapped. But as she felt his hand fumbling over her now naked breasts the energy within her was ignited anew and was building towards a desperate release. She didn't really know what happened. One second David was on top of her, painfully squeezing her breast, and the next he was gone. Her reaction was fast, set in survival mode, and she was quickly on her legs. She found David curled in a ball at the other end of the hallway, screaming as he clutched his hands over his eyes. Liz breathing was coming in quick gasps and she didn't know what to do.

The police.

She should call the police. She looked down in an attempt to start looking for her bag. David's animalistic cries were coursing through her body. That's when she saw the green flickering moving across her hands as electrical currents.
"Oh my God," she gasped and slowly looked across the room on David. She could now see blood pouring out from behind his hands, which were still covering his eyes. "Oh my God."
In a state of shock, she bent down and tried to get her cell phone out of her bag. Her trembling hands were making it extremely difficult. Of course, the fact that they were still flickering with green lights and making sparkling sounds didn't help the situation.
Her finger trembled as she dialed the number. She had to dial it three times before she got it right.

"Hello? Is this the police?"
She barely listened to the voice at the other end of the line as she watched David twist around on the floor under agonizing cries.
"I-I...a man's hurt. Um...he tried to rape me."
She slowly backed up against the wall beside the door, putting as much distance between herself and David as possible. She pulled her legs up to her chest, never letting David out of her sight as she, in a hushed tone, told the police the address.
She sat with the phone for some while before she unconsciously let it slide to the floor along with her hand.
"David?" she sniffed.
But he was still screaming. She felt like she wanted to vomit. What had she done? She had hurt him! She had somehow hurt him without being able to move. And why was her skin green? And sparkling. "Why?!" she sniffed, her body rocking in short movements back and forth against the wall.

She was so immersed in her own world that she didn't notice that someone had stepped into the house until a man knelt down in front of her.
"Miss Elizabeth Parker?"
She jerked her eyes, which were red from crying, towards the stranger's face. "Are you from the police?"
"Yes. Are you Elizabeth Parker?"
Suddenly she felt dizzy. She had to brace herself with her hand against the floor, even though she was sitting down. Then everything cleared. She looked up into the man's eyes and frowned.
"Why are you wearing a suit? Why aren't you in a uniform?"
"We're from the FBI," the man answered, his gaze flickering to her hands.
"The FBI?" she asked, her voice strong but cracking with disbelief. "I reported an attempted rape. What interest is that to the FBI?"
"We need you to come with us, Ms. Parker."

Liz frowned and shook her head, her eyes never leaving the stranger's face. But she could see other men moving around in her peripheral vision. How many were there? And why was it so quiet? An eerie absence of David's screams had lowered itself over the old house.
"No. I'm going to wait here for the police."
The man held his stony facial expression. "We have arranged everything with the police. We need you to come and talk with us."
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
The man turned his face away from hers and she anxiously followed his gaze. Her heart started beating even faster as she saw him nod and then she felt hands on her arms.
"No! Let go of me!" Liz cried. She tried to fight them off, but there were too many hands. She felt a sting in the side of her thigh and suddenly everything became so blurry. It was so difficult to keep her eyes open.
"Let's take her in."
And her eyes closed.

TBC…