Title: Moving Day
Author: Shannon (aka on Fanfiction.net, superCANDYgirl)
E-mail: slaygirl2000@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: A lesson in deductive reasoning. Roswell belongs to someone who isn't me. I am someone who is me. Therefore, Roswell does not belong to me.
Rating: PG-13
Category: M&M, M/L towards the end, mention of I/A,
also some Jim/Amy, I guess all this would make it general
Summary: People are moving out, and something's moving in.
Spoilers: Everything that's happened so far in the
series, nothing that I write is based on anything I've heard for S3.
Distribution: If you want it take it, but let me know please.
Feedback: YES!!! Please send me feedback.
Author's
Note: For once, I don't have one. Aren't you devastated?
Air
Date: January 29, 2002
CRASH!!!!!
"Michael,
what did you drop now?" Maria looked up
from the box she was packing, hoping it hadn't been anything valuable.
"You know,
maybe I wouldn't keep dropping things if you would actually pack inside the box,"
Michael snapped as he came into the bedroom. Three picture frames, a clock radio, and 5 CD's had already been
broken. Of course, he'd managed to put
them back together, but it was aggravating.
Maria
straightened and placed her hands on her hips. "Why don't you just use your powers to make the box bigger?"
"I
shouldn't have to! Any normal person
could put the stuff in the box so it doesn't fall out!" Maria was also aggravating right now.
"Well, I
guess that explains why you're not doing it!" she shouted.
"Oh would
you two shut up! You sound like an old
married couple," Amy DeLuca said, exasperated with the two of them. "Now can we please just finish up here? We still have to clear out my house. And every hour that we don't, that U-haul is
costing us money. Oh, wait, no, it's
costing ME money. Now move it!"
Michael and
Maria muttered apologies, and finished in silence.
Maria
looked around her new apartment. It was
bigger than Michael's last one, with two bedrooms, the main one for her and
Michael, and the smaller one that would be the baby's. It was a third story apartment, and while
the kitchen and living room were set up much like Michael's had been, there was
a considerably larger amount of space for them, though they were filled with
boxes at the moment. The apartment also
contained two bathrooms, the one with the shower off the main bedroom, and the
other one could be accessed from the living room. All the walls were painted white at the moment, but Maria
intended to change that as soon as possible. Excessive amounts of white made everyone in the group edgy after what
had happened to Max a year and a half ago.
Maria
sighed, trying to think of a way to thank Max. She and Michael owed him big time. Without him they wouldn't have been able to make the move here. When Maria found out she was pregnant, she
and Michael quickly realized they were going to need more living space. But more space means more money, and they
had no idea how they were going to afford a bigger apartment, especially with
all the extra expenses that would soon be coming their way. Thankfully, Max was there to save them. Brody left $1.5 million for Max to operate
the museum with, plus a corporate account with all the profits from the museum
that hadn't been spent. The year Brody
owned the museum, that came to $500 000, as he was a multi-millionaire, and
didn't need to spend the profits, or keep any for himself. All told, Max had about $2.5 million to
operate a museum with virtually no operating costs. Before Max took over, the majority of the money had been spent on
marketing, maintenance and repairs, and salaries. But marketing had become considerably less expensive. Max continued to run monthly ads in
magazines, but brochures and flyers could be made free of charge courtesy of
alien powers. Same rule applied to
maintenance, repairs, and cleaning. Any
damage that was done during the day could be fixed with a flick of his or
Michael's wrist after closing. Thus,
other than the standard utilities and Internet bills, there were next to no
expenses for the museum. This enabled
Max to give both Michael and Maria substantial raises, more than enough for
them to live of off. Hence, the bigger
apartment.
Though they
had officially moved in today, the furniture wouldn't be arriving until
tomorrow. It would be a combination of
things from Michael's apartment, and stuff her mom had given them, since she
wouldn't have any more use for it. The
Valenti's have everything she'd need. But at the moment, the apartment was so barren. Maria was homesick for the old
apartment. It had been warm and smelled
like home.
"Wanna
christen the new place?" Michael asked, coming up behind her.
Maria
laughed and turned to face him. This
place would be home soon enough. "We
don't have any furniture."
Grinning,
he held up a sleeping bag. "Who needs
furniture?"
"Well then
why don't we christen the new shower?" she challenged.
Michael's
eyes lit up. God, she's brilliant,
he thought. "Hell yeah!" Then to her surprise, he scooped her up over
his shoulder and carried her off.
Outside, a
man sat in his car talking on his cell phone. "Sir, we've found her."
"Are you
sure it's her?" the man on the other end demanded.
"Positive,"
the first man replied.
"Good. Now get out of there before somebody sees
you, and bring me her location. Now."
"Yes
Sir." The man hung up and drove off.
The next
afternoon, Maria sat in the Crashdown, in a booth across from Liz and
Isabel. Today was the day all the
furniture was being moved, and Amy was moving in with the Valenti's. Which still grossed Maria and Kyle out,
Maria certainly wasn't about to say anything. Her mom was happy, and wasn't killing Michael for getting her pregnant,
and that was all that mattered. The
boys were all off moving couches, and beds, and tables, and other assorted
household items. Maria had been exempt
because of her "fragile condition" (Max and Kyle had both burst into coughing
fits to cover their laughter, when she told them that was why she wasn't going
to help, and she thought she heard Michael mutter something about 'wasn't so
fragile last night', but no one had stopped her), Isabel had used her princess
stature to get out of it (which had been met with outright protest from the
guys), and Liz had escaped on best friend charges. So the three of them sat catching up, while waiting for Max,
Kyle, and Michael to join them.
"So have
you guys decided what you're going to name the baby yet?" Liz asked.
Maria
smiled softly, and glanced at Isabel. "We're thinking about Alexandra Amy." There was no need to explain why, and Isabel smiled sadly, but
gratefully at Maria.
"He'd like
that," she said. Maria nodded and was
about to say something, when Michael walked in the door.
"Hey," he
said, sliding into the booth next to Maria. He kissed her softly, immediately wrapping one arm around her shoulders,
and placing his other hand on her stomach. Maria was four months along, but still wasn't showing a bit.
Liz and
Isabel watched the couple, and exchanged pained glances. The two girls had been growing closer,
though sadly it was their mutual jealousy over Michael and Maria's relationship
that had first united them.
Isabel was
happy that Michael had finally found someone he loved and trusted, and who felt
the same way about him. She was happy
he had finally found a place where he belonged. But she couldn't help but wonder why she and Alex hadn't deserved
that kind of happiness. Alex hadn't
visited her since the night she discovered Lonnie in her dreams. She knew he was out there, but dead or
alive, and where, she still had no idea. She had tried dreamwalking him, but there was a mental block keeping her
and everyone else out. And now, seeing
Michael and Maria experience so much happiness tended to remind her of her own
failures and lost chances. It hadn't
been too late for them, but it seemed to be too late for her.
Liz was
feeling the consequences of her decision to listen to Future Max more than
ever. Michael and Maria had been given
another chance to be together, but she and Max may have lost theirs. By changing the future, Alex had died, Max
had slept with Tess, and Tess had left anyways. Liz wasn't even sure if what she had done had saved the world anymore,
and if it hadn't, then what was the point? Sure, her and Max had been getting closer again, but there were still so
many things separating them. Max still
didn't know about Future Max, for one. Liz hadn't gotten the courage to tell him yet. And now with Michael and Maria getting engaged, all Liz could
think about was the wedding she was supposed to have had, where she and Max
danced under the stars.
Simultaneously,
Liz and Isabel sighed, a very depressing sound. Maria looked up with concern. "Are you guys okay?" she asked. They both nodded half-heartedly.
Then Isabel
shook her head to clear out the cobwebs, and asked, "So when's the house
warming party?"
Sheriff Jim
Valenti looked around his house in absolute awe. Amy DeLuca had been living with him for less than twenty-four
hours, and already the house was half as messy and twice as girlie. Which wasn't hard to do, considering all
feminine items had been burned when Tess left. It had taken Kyle four months to move back into his room, and he only
did it after performing a ceremonial cleansing to clear the room of negative
energies with Maria, and using his and Isabel's combined powers to completely
change the look of the room. There were
no more mirrors in it. Jim knew there
were still nights where Kyle slept on the couch, even though he had for the
most part moved on. Both of the Valenti
men were a little bit nervous about having another woman move in with them, but
for very different reasons. Kyle had
his reservations after what happened with the last one, but he quickly realized
that Amy DeLuca was not an evil alien, and decided he didn't like the idea
because he was afraid of what he would hear coming from his father's room late
at night. The Valenti house was not
big, and sound traveled easily. So Kyle
had soundproofed his room and his father's, and had accepted the idea, deciding
to be happy for his father. Besides, as
he put it, he would be out of this hell town in 7 months anyways, so what did
he care?
Jim, on the
other, was nervous because he hadn't been this close to a woman since Kyle's
mother. And that hadn't turned out so
well. Mind you, Amy DeLuca was nothing
like his ex-wife, and he doubted that she was the just-pick-up-and-leave type,
but there was always that fear. But he
loved, and wanted to be close to her, so in she came.
Right now,
she was taking a bath, and Kyle was out. When Amy got there, the two men had told her one very important
rule. She was not allowed to use
lavender shower gel. When she asked
why, they both replied with a single word, "Tess." She asked no more questions and said she preferred strawberry
anyways.
So with the
smell of strawberries lightly perfuming the house, Jim Valenti laid back in his
recliner, feeling relaxed for the first time in a long time. For once, all seemed to be right with the
world.
The ringing
of the phone broke him out of his reverie.
"Hello?" he
grumbled, angry at having the peace disturbed.
"Sheriff?" Deputy Hanson. Great, just who I want to talk to.
"What is it
Deputy?"
"Well Sir,
I was just talking to the Sergeant, and he said he was reviewing your employee
profile, and found out that in all your years of being Sheriff you've only
taken two weeks of vacation, not counting of course your suspension last year."
"What's
your point Deputy?" Jim growled, growing more irritated.
"Well, the
point Sheriff, is that Sergeant Benton thinks now would be a good time for you
to make up for all that vacation time you missed. Actually, Sir, he's demanding that you do it."
"Why?" Jim
demanded, incredulous.
"I'm not
exactly sure Sir. He didn't say. But as I was leaving I thought I heard him
mutter something about needing you out of the way," Hanson replied hesitantly.
"Look
Hanson, you tell Benton that if he wants me off duty, he can tell me himself,
and he better have a damn good reason why."
"Actually
Sheriff, he was expecting you to say that. He said he wouldn't take your phone calls, and that you would be blocked
out of the station until he says so," the Deputy said, sounding like a
messenger waiting to be shoot.
Jim was
tempted, but figured Hanson wouldn't know anything else. He would take this up with Benton. "Thank you, Deputy," he said in a tight
voice.
"Sheriff." Then all Jim heard was a dial tone,
signaling that Hanson had hung up.
What the
hell is going on?
Kyle
surveyed the apartment and the people in it. They were having a mini house warming/engagement party at Michael and
Maria's. In the two short days that
they had been living there, they had managed to decorate the place and get
completely settled. All the furniture
and accessories were in place, except in the baby's room. The walls had all been "painted", thanks to
Michael's powers, though Maria had obviously chosen the colours. The baby's room was a soft pink for the
little girl that would be living there. The living room had been done in blue, and the kitchen was a emerald
green. The bathrooms were both a pastel
yellow. The only room that differed
from this pattern was the master bedroom. The walls in there were a midnight blue, with gold sparkles clearly
meant to represent the stars. The
bedclothes and curtains were designed to match. It was the only room that seemed to reflect a combination of both
Michael and Maria's personalities. It
figured it would be the bedroom.
The bright
colours of the apartment presented a bit of a contrast to the people in
it. Kyle's father was clearly upset
about something, but what was trying to hide it. He seemed slightly cheered up by talking to Michael about living
with DeLuca women, but it was only helping so much. Amy was chatting up Isabel, who was laughing, though it was
clearly all the people finding happy lives together was making her think about
Alex, and not in a happy memories sort of way. Liz was listening to Maria go on about her wedding plans with thinly
veiled jealousy, though Maria seemed oblivious to it. Max was watching Liz pretending to be happy for her friend with a
frown.
Yeah, Kyle thought, par-ty!
Liz sat
listening to Maria talk about her wedding, which was likely going to take place
the week after school finished. She had
been going on for about 10 minutes now, and Liz decided she needed a break.
"Maria?"
Liz blurted out, interrupting her in the middle of the sentence. She didn't want to spoil her friends
happiness, but she also couldn't help the painful memories this was all
bringing back. "I'm not feeling so
well. I'm going to go get some fresh
air."
"O-…" Maria
began, but Liz was already out the door, "…kay." She thought about going after her, but it was obvious Liz didn't
really want to talk to her right now. She saw Max follow her out, and figured Liz was in good hands. Maria wandered over to where everyone else
was gathered around her mother, Jim, and Michael. Amy was tearing into the two men for making fun of the sleeping
habits of her and her daughter, much to Kyle and Isabel's amusement.
"We do not
snore!" she cried.
Max caught
up with Liz in a park about a block away from the apartment. She was crying softly on one of the
swings. Max knelt in front of her, and
placed his hands on her knees.
"Liz, what
is it? What happened?" Max asked, his
entire body filled with worry.
"It…was…suppos'd…to…be…us,"
Liz managed to get out through sobs. She threw herself into his arms, crying to hard to talk. Max held silently, waiting for her to get it
all out. Her sobs finally subsided.
"Liz, what
do you mean?" Max asked, trying to sound soothing.
Her next
words came out in a rush. "It was
supposed to be us getting married, after high school, but you told me to change
it and I did and now everything's in ruins except for them but it was supposed
to be us and I feel so bad!"
Max was
more confused than before if possible. "Liz, what on earth are you talking about?"
Liz closed
her eyes and took a few deep calming breaths. She opened them again, and looked straight into Max's eyes. It's now or never, she told
herself. "Max, there's something I have
to tell you."
TBC…
A/N: Yeah, it was a bit shorter than the rest, but
the last one was longer than the rest, so it works out.