Title: Worse
Author: Shannon (aka on Fanfiction.net, superCANDYgirl)
E-mail: slaygirl2000@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Roswell does not belong to me. If it did, you would never see Michael in more than boxers.
Rating: PG-13
Category: M&M and M/L
Summary: Dreams and the future aren't always what you'd hope they'd be.
Spoilers: Everything up to the end of season 2.
Distribution: If you want it take it, but let me know please.
Feedback: YES!!! Feedback is the food of
life. Or fanfiction at any rate.
Author's
Note: Takes place immediately after "Moving
Day". And for those of you who have
mentioned this, I am aware that the actual premiere date for the show is
October 16. I made up my air dates
before they announced that, which is why I have the premiere date for this
series the week before.
Air
Date: February 5, 2002
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."
Max nodded. "Of course. You can tell me anything Liz."
Liz hesitated. "Maybe we should sit down." She walked over to the nearest picnic table and sat on the table top, placing her feet on the bench. Max sat down beside her. "Do you remember the night you came to my place with the mariachi band?"
Max laughed and nodded. "Yeah. Wow, that was embarrassing."
Liz smiled at the memory of him standing there singing in Spanish, and briefly wondered if he still remembered the words. But it passed quickly, and her face darkened. "That night a future version of you came to me. Apparently with a modification the Granolith was capable of time travel. I guess we'll never know now. Anyways, he told me that in fourteen years the world would end because you and I were together. He told me I had to make you fall out of love with me."
"Why?" Max interrupted. It didn't make any sense to him.
Liz's voice was thick with emotion as she told him the next part. "The night of the concert, the night you saw me with Kyle, you and I made love for the first time. And after that, nothing could come between us. Eventually Tess got sick of it, and left Roswell, and no one heard from her again. And when your enemies attacked, you guys were weakened without her. You were meant to be a unit of four to defeat them, and without Tess, the world was destroyed. So I had to make you fall out of love with me so Tess wouldn't leave. And we all know how well that went."
"Oh god, Liz, I'm so sorry. Why didn't you ever say anything?" Max wrapped his arms around Liz who had begun crying again.
"Because I was afraid to. Before I was afraid it would end the world. After Tess left I was afraid you would hate me. I already felt so guilty, like everything that had happened was my fault, and it was, and I just didn't know what to do," Liz said quickly.
"Liz, it wasn't your fault. I can't believe you carried this alone for so long," Max said soothingly.
Liz knew Maria and Kyle knew about what had happened, but she didn't mention anything, because neither of them had been much help in the matter, and she hadn't mentioned any of these things to either of them, so Max was still essentially right in his assumption that she had been alone in dealing with all of this. "Max, there's more. You and I, we were supposed to get married. Right after high school, in an Elvis chapel in Las Vegas. And now there's all this talk about Michael and Maria getting married…"
"…and all you can think about is the wedding you were supposed to have," Max finished for her, understanding.
Liz nodded, and sniffled. "I feel so guilty, cuz she's my best friend, and I should be happy for her, but I keep thinking that it was supposed to be me. It's so selfish."
Max cupped her cheek. "Liz, it's not selfish. You gave up your entire future to stop something that happened anyways. What you're feeling is completely understandable." He kissed her then, softly, and Liz felt like some of her burden had been lifted. She still wasn't ready to go do cartwheels for Maria, but she could at least be happy for her friend.
"Liz," Max began, hesitantly, "It might be too late for our Vegas wedding, but it's not to late for us." Liz looked into his eyes, and nodded, but didn't say anything, because she still wasn't convinced he was right.
It was 1:23am, and Maria was sleeping peacefully in Michael's arms when she heard the knocking at the door. Sitting up, she noticed that Michael was still sound asleep, so she pulled on a robe, and walked sleepily to the door. Yawning, Maria pulled open the door, but was shocked fully awake at what she saw on the other side.
Eyes wide, Maria whispered, "Daddy?"
The man nodded, opened his arms, and Maria fainted dead away.
When Michael heard the knock, he woke up, but it didn't really register. When he heard the thump as Maria hit the ground, it did. Throwing on a pair of sweats, Michael ran out of the bedroom. In the living room, he saw a strange man shaking an unconscious Maria in a way that bordered on violent.
"Get the hell away from her!" Michael shouted. He ran to Maria's side, and pushed the other man away. He picked her up and carried her over to the couch checking that she was okay. When he determined that other than the fact that she had passed out she was okay, he turned back to the man standing in the middle of his apartment. "Who the hell are you?" Michael shouted as he studied the man. He was about the same height as Michael, with sandy blond hair in a short, almost military style haircut, and blue eyes. He looked vaguely familiar to Michael at first glance, and when he looked closer he realized where he'd seen him before. In Maria's head.
"I'm Maria's father, who are you?" Peter DeLuca demanded, crossing his arms defensively. But something seemed off about his posture to Michael.
Glaring at the man, Michael responded, "I'm her fiancé. Now what are you doing in our apartment in the middle of the night?" Peter looked surprised, but the shock he was portraying didn't seem to reach his eyes. Michael grew more suspicious of him as he thought of something else before the man could respond. "Wait, better question. How did you get in here? There's a front door, and you have to be buzzed in. All we heard was the knock on our door."
"The lock was broken, I just walked in," Peter replied smoothly. Michael knew for a fact that the man was lying. The day he and Maria had moved in, Michael had used his powers to change the consistency of the lock so that it would be unbreakable. The safety of Maria and their child was one of the most important things to him, and anyone who didn't know the code on the keypad for the electronic lock wouldn't be able to get into the building. And he had checked that the lock was working when everyone had left earlier. Michael didn't say anything, wanting to know what the man was up to. Instead, he turned back to Maria, who was waking on the couch.
Maria groaned and rubbed the back of her head. "Why don't we ever get a place with carpeting?" she grumbled.
"Rug burn," Michael muttered, eliciting a short laugh from her. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice filled with concern.
"Yeah, I just had this weird dream where my father was here…" she paused, glancing over Michael's shoulder, "… and oh, look he is." She sat up. Michael placed his hand on her back, and sent her a flash of what he had found out while she was unconscious, warning her not to trust him. She gave Michael a look telling him that wasn't an issue in the first place, and stood up.
"It's been a long time, sweetie," Peter said smiling at her, an expression which once again didn't quite reach his eyes. He opened his arms to hug her.
Maria regarded him coolly, not revealing any of the emotions that were tumbling around inside her. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, it has." Michael came up and wrapped his arms around her from behind, locking his hands protectively over her stomach. Her father cleared his throat, and withdrew his arms. "Peter, meet Michael, my fiancé."
The two men gazed at each other levelly. "We've met," her father replied dryly. "Maria, I really don't approve…"
Maria cut him off. "You've been out of my life for over a decade. I really don't care what you do or don't approve of."
Somewhat taken aback, he tried, "Well, I don't think your mother…"
And was once again interrupted. "And because you've been out of my life for a decade, you don't have the right to waltz back in and presume you know anything about me or my mother. Now is whatever you're here for actually so important that it has to be dealt with at one-thirty in the morning, or can it wait until tomorrow?"
"I suppose it can wait. Would you be willing to have lunch tomorrow?" Maria nodded, and he continued. "Fine. Call your mother, I'd like to see her too. I have a feeling we all have a lot to catch up on. I'll send the limo over at 11:30." With that, he walked out the door.
Early the next morning, Maria called her mom to tell her what had happened. Amy rushed right over, along with Jim Valenti. Michael had explained to both of them why he didn't trust the man.
"And besides," Michael finished, "there's still the question of how he found me and Maria."
"411?" Maria suggested.
"But you just moved in here," Amy pointed out.
"And we're unlisted," Michael added. "It would have been easier for him to find Amy. The Valenti's house was the forwarding address she left with the people who moved into your old place, plus everyone in this town knows him. But he came to us instead. It just doesn't make sense."
"Michael's right," Jim agreed. "There's also something about the timing of it. I'm forced out of my office because they need me out of the way, then he shows up? It's just too much of a coincidence."
"Are we sure he's really my father? What if he's some shapeshifter alien or something?" Maria asked.
Michael nodded. "It's possible. We can ask Isabel to do a dream walk on him, see what she turns up. I'm gonna call them now, tell everyone to meet us at the Crashdown at 2:30, so we can talk about this."
Michael and Maria went to go call people using both their line and Maria's cell phone. When the buzzer went off signalling the arrival of someone downstairs, Amy pushed the button on the intercom.
"Yes?" she said.
"Amy? It's Peter. Are you girls ready?" came the voice on the other end.
"Yes, we'll be right down," Amy said tersely, before severing the connection. Maria and Michael came back into the room. "He's here," she told them.
"We're going with you," Jim, said signalling to Michael and himself.
Maria protested. "We can take care of ourselves."
"Maria, I'm not taking any chances with this. Either we go with you, or you don't go at all," Michael said firmly.
While Maria wasn't happy about being ordered around, she knew she would feel safer with Michael there, so all she said was, "Fine. We going?" Everyone nodded and walked out of the apartment, wishing they knew what they were dealing with.
Liz was exhausted as she walked downstairs. She and Max had stayed in the park until five in the morning, just talking about everything that had happened in the last year. Liz felt better about their relationship, and a lot of the barriers between them had been removed, but there was still something separating them. Liz still couldn't trust Max because every time she touched him, she was reminded of the fact that Tess had touched him the same way, and more. They weren't close the same way anymore. When they kissed, neither of them received flashes. Liz's mind had been closed off to Max since that time he kissed before he left for the Granolith chamber. And she had learned to block out the flashes she got from him a month after that, when every time they kissed she would receive one of Tess. Their connection wasn't what it once was, and Liz still didn't trust him enough to open herself up to him like that again. This was another area where she envied Michael and Maria, who could now communicate specific feelings and images to each other with a single touch. But after last night, Liz had begun to feel that there was some hope that maybe, someday, she and Max could be that close again.
Liz sighed, pushing thoughts of her relationship aside, remembering why she was meeting everyone in the first place. Another potential alien crisis. I wonder if it will ever stop? she thought as she slid into the booth next to Max, and across from Isabel and Kyle.
It was less than five minutes after Liz showed up that the limousine stopped in front of the café. It had been a very tense two hours. Neither of the two DeLuca women were thrilled to be in the presence of the man who had deserted them only to suspiciously reappear in their lives. As for Peter DeLuca, he was obviously unhappy about Michael and Jim insisting they join the family reunion, and nobody believed it was because he didn't want to have to pay for two extra mouths. Though Jim and Michael did make a point of ordering the most expensive thing on the menu. So it came as a great relief to everyone when they reached the Crashdown. Maria, Amy, Jim, and Michael climbed out of the vehicle. Peter looked like he might follow them, but after quickly glancing around the café, he decided against it.
"I really must be going, but it's been wonderful seeing you two girls again. I'll be in touch," Peter paused as Maria snorted and tried to cover it with a cough. "No really, I guarantee, I'll be seeing you all sooner than you'd think." Michael and Jim exchanged a wary look, not really sure if the man's statement was meant as a promise or a threat. Goodbyes were said, and then Peter DeLuca drove off in the limo.
"Funny," Maria murmured, "In my fantasy, he didn't drive off again." Michael sighed, and put his arm around her. He knew what it was like to be disappointed by the man you thought was your father. Maria shook her head and grab Michael's, pulling him down to kiss her. She smiled, but Michael could see it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Come on. Let's go find out what my bastard father is up to." Maria practically skipped into the Crashdown and began filling in the rest of the gang on what was going on, leaving Amy impressed with her daughter's resiliency, and Michael remembering something she once told him about faking things. Sighing, he followed her inside.
Inside the limo, Peter DeLuca picked up his ringing cell phone.
"DeLuca," he said.
"Where the hell are you?" the voice on the other end screamed.
"Something came up. We couldn't get them," Peter replied calmly.
"What do you mean something came up?" the voice on the other end cried.
"Two somethings actually. Valenti and Guerin showed up. Refused to leave them alone. Even went with them to the bathrooms. Paranoid men, really. But dangerous. I couldn't risk it, they could have beaten us too easily. We'll just have to do this a different way," he said smoothly.
"Damnit DeLuca! You get me those kids. No more screw ups! Understand?" the aggravated voice shouted.
"Consider it done," Peter said before hanging up.
Maria sat on Michael's lap in the Evans' living room. On the way over there, Michael had told her that he knew what she was feeling, and that she didn't need to pretend. Maria knew this was true, and told him she was pretending for him. He'd nodded his understanding, and had just held her protectively the rest of the way. It wasn't that Maria wasn't happy with her life, she was more than happy with it. It was just disappointing, for her father to come back like this, with some sinister alterior motive that threatened her life, Michael, her mom, her child, maybe even everyone else in the group. Maybe disappointing wasn't the right word for it. Enraging, perhaps.
So now everyone sat waiting for Isabel to come downstairs from dreamwalking Peter DeLuca, hoping they would at least have a clue as to what the threat was.
It was a few more minutes before Isabel joined everyone in the living room. When she did, she was white as a sheet, and looked like she was reliving one of her worst nightmares.
"What is it?" Max asked, straightening. Isabel looked at her brother, a look that was a mixture of fear and regret.
"What? Skins? Shapeshifters? Freaky bounty hunters? Dupes?" Maria's eyes widened at her last suggestion. "Oh god, please, tell me Rath's not my father, that would just be too weird."
Isabel glared at Maria, effectively silencing her. "It's not any of those."
Kyle stood up. "Then what is it?"
Isabel said only one word. "Worse."
A/N: I have absolutely no idea what the name of Maria's father actually is, or if it's ever been given. If anyone knows it, please feel free to tell me, and I'll make the change.