**For those of who asked for an epilogue**
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Epilogue: The Healing
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June 2009
Liz lifted the last box from the moving van. It had taken her just over two months to find the perfect rental: a smallish three-bedroom house with an actual yard, something that was often hard to come by in the city. She had spent the interim packing her apartment and running up extremely high long distance bills.
At last she was happy again. Her co-workers in the lab thought she must have found a man; they couldn't have been farther from the truth. Not only had she lost a man but she had found a woman. Closure was an amazing thing. She felt as if she was finally able to breathe again after having spent seven years in purgatory.
She anxiously watched the street for signs of movement. She had spoken to Maria just an hour earlier and knew she and Mickey were close. They should arrive at any moment.
It had only taken Liz a week to convince Maria to move to San Francisco and live with her. Liz had been on cloud nine ever since her agreement. She was finally getting her best friend back not to mention a little splash of alien reminder by way of Mickey.
They would still need to be careful, but they could do it together and Maria could relax a little. After all, avoiding probing eyes was nothing new to the women from Roswell.
Dropping the box just inside the front door, she heard a vehicle's approach. Maria's car pulled up in front of the house, a moving trailer tagging along behind. The car had barely come to a halt before the back door flew open and Mickey bounded out onto the curb, dashing up the sidewalk and flinging herself into Liz's arms.
Liz engulfed the child in a tight hug and beamed delightedly at Maria as she exited the vehicle. She was home at last. What deprivation she had once felt had finally fled. She would always love and miss Max, but now that she knew he wasn't coming back she could live the way she knew he would want her too.
~~~
"So Alex says that they should be in town within the week. They've got a couple of gigs set for this weekend and next."
The trio had allocated one of the moving crates for a table and pizza boxes and cans of soda littered its top as well as the sugar shaker and a half empty bottle of Tabasco. They had taken a break for dinner when it was apparent to both Maria and Liz that they wouldn't be settled in for a day or so, no matter how quickly they worked to put the house to rights.
"What about Kyle and Tess?" Maria asked around a mouthful of pepperoni.
After Tess had returned to them, she had been at a loss as to what to do. Apparently for all the discussions she had engaged in with Max, Isabel, and Michael, they had never covered the more practical side of returning. Kyle had stepped forward at that point, insisting that she at least stay with him for a while in Chicago and she had agreed to his offer.
Kyle had appointed himself Tess' protector, at least on a temporary basis, since he was sure Maria wouldn't disappear on them again. Gratefully, Tess had returned to Illinois with him, promising to make it out to California as soon as she could.
"Next month. I promised I'd drag you both to the game with me. Tess is looking forward to seeing Mickey again. Kyle says she's looking a lot better, healthier and happier."
"Thank God," Maria said. "I'm glad they're coming, Mickey needs someone to help her now that her 'abilities' are showing up and I bet Tess is just as anxious to be around someone who's at least a little bit like she is."
Liz nodded, picking up another slice of pizza and delicately blowing on it before trying to take a bite. "Somehow I don't think that lady at the supermarket quite believed us when Mickey brought that pigeon back to life this afternoon. I mean, that bird was so stiff that when she picked it up it didn't even bend. There's no way anyone could mistake it for being asleep." Liz smiled at the memory of the lifeless bird suddenly becoming a whirl of movement in Mickey's hands before taking off into the air.
"I do have a question though."
Maria looked up. "What's that?"
"I mean, Max could heal but none of them could bring something back from the dead. How is it that Mickey, being even more hybrid than they were, can do it without even thinking about it?"
"I think that's a question for the molecular biologist, not the mother. Hand me that soda by your knee before you spill it all over my child." Maria took the can and set it on the crate. "I do want to stop by the bookstore tomorrow at some point."
"Yeah?"
"I want to pick up a new bedtime story for Mickey. I was thinking about finding a copy of Ulysses."
*****Note: Is this an acceptable ending? I swear, I was content with how "Homecomming" ended. :) I never expected to write anythingelse on this strain of thought. Surprize! Regardless, thank you so much for the comments on Relative Deprivation. I was very hesitant about posting it at all initially. What is it... a writer's worst critic is him/herself? I tried in this to at least let everyone be happy, everyone who's still alive at least. Hope you enjoy.
"For he had learned some of the things that every man must find out for himself, and he had found out about them as one has to find out-through error and through trial, through fantasy and illusion, through falsehood and his own damn foolishness, through being mistaken and wrong and an idiot and egotistical and aspiring and hopeful and believing and confused."
~"You Can't Go Home Again" by Thomas Wolfe
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Epilogue: The Healing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
June 2009
Liz lifted the last box from the moving van. It had taken her just over two months to find the perfect rental: a smallish three-bedroom house with an actual yard, something that was often hard to come by in the city. She had spent the interim packing her apartment and running up extremely high long distance bills.
At last she was happy again. Her co-workers in the lab thought she must have found a man; they couldn't have been farther from the truth. Not only had she lost a man but she had found a woman. Closure was an amazing thing. She felt as if she was finally able to breathe again after having spent seven years in purgatory.
She anxiously watched the street for signs of movement. She had spoken to Maria just an hour earlier and knew she and Mickey were close. They should arrive at any moment.
It had only taken Liz a week to convince Maria to move to San Francisco and live with her. Liz had been on cloud nine ever since her agreement. She was finally getting her best friend back not to mention a little splash of alien reminder by way of Mickey.
They would still need to be careful, but they could do it together and Maria could relax a little. After all, avoiding probing eyes was nothing new to the women from Roswell.
Dropping the box just inside the front door, she heard a vehicle's approach. Maria's car pulled up in front of the house, a moving trailer tagging along behind. The car had barely come to a halt before the back door flew open and Mickey bounded out onto the curb, dashing up the sidewalk and flinging herself into Liz's arms.
Liz engulfed the child in a tight hug and beamed delightedly at Maria as she exited the vehicle. She was home at last. What deprivation she had once felt had finally fled. She would always love and miss Max, but now that she knew he wasn't coming back she could live the way she knew he would want her too.
~~~
"So Alex says that they should be in town within the week. They've got a couple of gigs set for this weekend and next."
The trio had allocated one of the moving crates for a table and pizza boxes and cans of soda littered its top as well as the sugar shaker and a half empty bottle of Tabasco. They had taken a break for dinner when it was apparent to both Maria and Liz that they wouldn't be settled in for a day or so, no matter how quickly they worked to put the house to rights.
"What about Kyle and Tess?" Maria asked around a mouthful of pepperoni.
After Tess had returned to them, she had been at a loss as to what to do. Apparently for all the discussions she had engaged in with Max, Isabel, and Michael, they had never covered the more practical side of returning. Kyle had stepped forward at that point, insisting that she at least stay with him for a while in Chicago and she had agreed to his offer.
Kyle had appointed himself Tess' protector, at least on a temporary basis, since he was sure Maria wouldn't disappear on them again. Gratefully, Tess had returned to Illinois with him, promising to make it out to California as soon as she could.
"Next month. I promised I'd drag you both to the game with me. Tess is looking forward to seeing Mickey again. Kyle says she's looking a lot better, healthier and happier."
"Thank God," Maria said. "I'm glad they're coming, Mickey needs someone to help her now that her 'abilities' are showing up and I bet Tess is just as anxious to be around someone who's at least a little bit like she is."
Liz nodded, picking up another slice of pizza and delicately blowing on it before trying to take a bite. "Somehow I don't think that lady at the supermarket quite believed us when Mickey brought that pigeon back to life this afternoon. I mean, that bird was so stiff that when she picked it up it didn't even bend. There's no way anyone could mistake it for being asleep." Liz smiled at the memory of the lifeless bird suddenly becoming a whirl of movement in Mickey's hands before taking off into the air.
"I do have a question though."
Maria looked up. "What's that?"
"I mean, Max could heal but none of them could bring something back from the dead. How is it that Mickey, being even more hybrid than they were, can do it without even thinking about it?"
"I think that's a question for the molecular biologist, not the mother. Hand me that soda by your knee before you spill it all over my child." Maria took the can and set it on the crate. "I do want to stop by the bookstore tomorrow at some point."
"Yeah?"
"I want to pick up a new bedtime story for Mickey. I was thinking about finding a copy of Ulysses."
*****Note: Is this an acceptable ending? I swear, I was content with how "Homecomming" ended. :) I never expected to write anythingelse on this strain of thought. Surprize! Regardless, thank you so much for the comments on Relative Deprivation. I was very hesitant about posting it at all initially. What is it... a writer's worst critic is him/herself? I tried in this to at least let everyone be happy, everyone who's still alive at least. Hope you enjoy.
"For he had learned some of the things that every man must find out for himself, and he had found out about them as one has to find out-through error and through trial, through fantasy and illusion, through falsehood and his own damn foolishness, through being mistaken and wrong and an idiot and egotistical and aspiring and hopeful and believing and confused."
~"You Can't Go Home Again" by Thomas Wolfe