Author's Note: I truly tried to be genius but I am afraid it became Saved by The Ball however, I stand by my solution. I think that cj [I love you, cj, come back! I can't write this story without you!] said it best:
"It's not Saved by the Bell...if it was, Larek would have built a robot for no apparent reason and impersonated a bell boy. I think the plan was great for Larek; like Maria he seems to get by on brazenness and being a bit more clever than everyone else. If he had gotten a machine gun he'd have dropped it on his foot."
Larek watched the way the mouth moved and found that if he spoke through his own nose and pursed his own lips, he sounded just like the man on television.
A little higher, a little breathier and he made an adequate woman. Just barely.
He turned the television off and reached for the phone. He put it back down.
He sighed. Was he truly so desperate?
He picked the phone back up.
"Police Department, please." The desk connected him.
"You have to help me," he said frantically. "My sister's gonna kill me."
"No, I'm not reporting an assault, I'm reporting a missing girl!"
"No, it hasn't been forty-eight hours."
"What do you mean you can't do anything? My sister's going to kill me. I promised her on our grandmother's grave that I would keep Maria safe. My dead grandmother's grave, don't you understand? She said, oh, if you lose my daughter, I'll kill you and do you know what I said? I said, oh, Maria needs a vacation. Let's go on vacation. Don't worry about it. I told my sister not to worry and look what happened, she's going to kill me."
"Yes, we are tourists. I'm her uncle."
"She's about seventeen. Blonde hair. I have a picture. Do you want a picture?"
***
He turned the television back and flicked the remote until he found a program that provided the correct background noise for a bar or poolhall.
"Got a tip for ya," he sniveled.
"I understand there's no reward money, I just wanna do my part, you know, be a upstandin' citizen."
"Hey, lady, I ain't go no name. Now listen up, there's a group, a ring. They's taking kids. Outta towners."
"Whaddya think they takin' 'em for?"
"Maybe I got kids at home, ya know. I gotta heart."
***
Larek turned off the television, cleared his throat and reached for the phone again.
"Hello, is this the police department?"
"Oh, you have to help me. Someone took my son, we were just shopping and suddenly he was gone."
"Yes, we are tourists. In from Connecticut. How did you guess?"
***
"I can't talk for long," he whispered. "I work at the Hilton and I'm not sure if I should be calling."
"I can't tell you who I am. But there were two men -big men. They carried in an unconscious girl. Teenager. Blonde. Pretty."
"She looked drugged. And *they * looked mean. I think they have guns."
"They're in the Penthouse, yes, the Hilton. H-I-L-T-O-N."
***
Larek waited across the street and watched the police escort Rasa and the other Skin out in handcuffs.
He smirked, hoping they were tight.
Ten more minutes and Nicholas left. Also with police escort but, unfortunately, no cuffs. They made eye contact and Larek waved. Nicholas frowned but didn't dare call attention to himself.
Larek counted on it.
Twenty more minutes and still no Maria.
Finally he went into the building.
***
A man stopped him at the elevator and flashed a badge. "You can't come in here."
"My niece," Larek cried. "They told me they found her here!" He pulled out the photo he'd found in Maria's wallet. "This is her."
The police officer looked at the picture. "She's over this way, but I have to warn you first..."
Larek turned the corner and saw Maria huddled in the corner of a bed, rubbing her wrists and ankles. He went to her.
Someone pulled him away. A woman. "You're family?"
"Her uncle."
She looked at him suspiciously but went on, "There's no obvious external damage except for her wrists and ankles. She was tied up. Tight, there are welts. I'm more concerned about the internal damage."
"Organs and such?" Larek knew what the woman really meant, though.
"I'm talking about a psychological harm," she said gently. "They appeared to be...torturing her. She seems to be in shock."
He looked at Maria across the room. I'll just bet, he thought. "Let me go to her."
"Of course," the woman said. "But don't excite her."
He bent down on his knees in front of Maria and lifted her face to his eyes.
She spit.
He wiped the spit away with his sleeve, never letting go of her chin. "It's me."
"Larek?" She touched his ear. "No games?"
He shook his head. "Do you want to know what you ate for breakfast?"
"No, I believe you. Nicholas never pretended to be anyone else. I just...wanted to be sure." She looked at him. "Get me out of here? Please."
Maria pretended to more stable than she really was. Larek lied and said they wouldn't leave town. It took a bit, but they got out.
In the cab, Maria was quiet.
She hesitated outside of her hotel door, "I don't really want to go in there."
Larek nodded and led her into his own room.
She sat down in a chair and said, "I'll call for the next flight out. Just give me a minute to change into something clean."
He nodded and said, "Your clothes are in here. Take a shower. I'll go next door and pick up."
She smiled gratefully, ran her fingers through a curl and grimaced. "Yeah, it feels like I stuck my head in a tub of butter."
***
Maria smiled when she saw that Larek was watching television. The familiarity was comforting.
"Our flight's in two hours," she told him.
"Sit down," he said.
She sat across from and flinched when he touched his fingers to her temples.
"Relax. Trust me. Think about watching me on the plane. Counting the vomit bags as I fill them up."
She leaned her face forward in his hands.
Larek shook her by the shoulders. "Come back," he yelled.
"What?"
"Where were you just now?," he asked back.
"You just did this," she mimed his hands on her temple and then your hands, like, moved and you were shouting like a clown threatened to eat you."
"Clown," he shook his head. "You were out for fifteen minutes. Looking straight ahead and just mumbling. Strange things. About virgins and playgrounds and la isla bonita. I thought you didn't know Spanish?"
"Yo hablo Madonna," she shrugged vaguely. "Fifteen minutes though?"
"Tell me about what Nicholas did to you. No, first, tell me did Nicholas get what he wanted?"
"No," she shook her head. "He was just about to go back in when the cops came in. How did you do that by the way?"
He explained his endeavor into voice simulation.
"That is so Saved by the Bell! I cannot believe you did that. My life was on the line and you," she shook her head. "Forget that. I'm glad you went that route because it worked and here I am, Material Girl and all. And I know you could have just left me."
She moved to hug him and Larek shrunk back.
"Right. What was I thinking," she moved away. "Nicholas. Well, he did the face-touchy thing and it was like, like he was in my head and he could just look at things. But then I guess I'm a hard nut to crack," she smiled faintly," so he had to keep trying.'
"But it was also like he was draining my energy, not just my mind, and I kept fainting on him. He really was not down with that. So he put his hands here," she gripped her neck lightly, "and he –it hurt so much. It was like I'd touched a live wire. Like I was a live wire.'
"Things are still really mixed up in here." She tapped her skull. "I remember him feeding me and just whining on and on."
"That sounds about right for Nicholas," Larek nodded. "Grumbling, bitchy shit."
Maria agreed. "So how come you can do the face-touchy thing, too? I thought you were low on the super power foodchain."
"I am," he said. "I couldn't drill into you the way Nicholas could. That's a big whammy. I can only whisper. All I did was touch your mind, tried to see if there were holes."
She looked at him questioningly and he nodded.
"Rhode Island sized or Texas?"
"Let's say Iowa. But there are a lot of them."
"Oh," she frowned. "How do I...fill them up?"
"You don't. You can't. You relearn."
"That's not an option, Larek. Those memories belong to me. I don't care if I have to bore a hole into Nicholas' head and drink what drips out, I need them back."
He thought she'd be that way. "I can fix them if you let me."
She looked at him expectantly.
"It's our proximity. We've been around each other for days now, we're in sync."
"Good, good," she nodded.
"But we can't take the plane."
"Why?"
"Several reasons. One being Nicholas probably expects us at the airport."
"Then why are sticking around here? Nicholas knows this place, too."
"He was taken into protective custody. He's a minor, they probably won't let him go until his mother comes for him. And since I'm his mother, it'll be awhile."
"Can't he just mojo them?"
"Yes, but so many people and all that crap, it'll take him awhile. Enough for us to make plans."
"Right," Maria took a deep breath. "What are the other reasons?"
"It'll take time." He didn't let her interrupt. "I won't be able to fix you in Roswell. The others will interfere."
"They mean well. They're my friends. They care." She defended them.
"More than that, they'll throw us out of tune. And I promised them I'd keep you intact. You are not. I have a healthy sense of self-preservation, I'm not setting foot in New Mexico until you're finished."
"You promised?"
"They called," he explained. "You're to call them back. You can call from the bus depot."
"Bus? Why can't I drive? Right because I might not even remember how."
"I don't want to die," Larek said. "And I have no idea what will set you to gibbering again."
"Wonderful bedside manner," she commented.
"I'm glad you're up to joking," he said truthfully. "Now pack your bags so we can leave."
She paused, "So you're coming back to Roswell."
"I've got to deal with Max."
"Just like that? You're gonna have your little meetings with him like you had with Nicholas?"
He looked at her. "You tell me. Is your friend like Nicholas?"
"Of course. We're the good guys."
He looked at her flatly.
She turned to the door again. She turned around again. Larek was convinced she wanted whiplash.
"Why can't Max do it? You know, fix me?"
"Since he's got me covered on the super powers front, you mean? Because he may have the strength but I have the knowledge and the skill. Because he's just as like to jackhammer the rest of your mind away as heal it."
"Good point," she nodded.
She stopped again. He sighed.
"So they trust you?"
"No."
"Should they?"
"Maybe. Not yet. Maybe."
Ignoring the crackle of overhead speakers, Maria turned to Brody. "So what's the number?"
"The what?"
"The number. You know, to call."
"So now I'm supposed to be Miss Cleo?" Larek grimaced. "Maxi Pad said you knew it."
"Ooh, don't call him that to his face," Maria said.
Larek gave her a fierce glare.
"Right, back to business. She turned to face the phone, closed her eyes and let her hand run over the dialpad. After several rings, someone picked and Maria released her held breath.
"Mrs. Parker? Oh, I was wondering if you could tell me where Maxi -I mean Max Evans is? And what's the number at Alex's? Oh, don't worry, you know me, I'm the stereotypical flake." Maria faked light laughter.
She smiled at Larek, "See, I'm not that bad off. I bet I could totally drive a car."
Larek depressed the ringer on the phone, hanging up on Mrs. Parker. "Just call your friend."
"Well, if you're gonna be all Luke Perry charming about it, I can't help but do your bidding." Maria's fingers made quick work of the phone number and Alex answered a little breathlessly.
"Hello?"
"Alex?"
Larek turned so that his back faced her, ostensibly looking for threats.
"It's me. God, Maria are you okay?"
"Not a nick. I'm resilient. I bite back. I'm General MacArthur. I'm Teflon-"
"You're evading," her friend said pointblank. "Maria babe, you can tell me."
"I've just got a few scabs and scars, huge gappage in my memory. But enough about me, how are you doing? How's the Whits?"
"Maria, what do you mean huge gaps?" Once again, Alex's voice dropped into seriousness.
"Just your standard, run of the mill, not out of the ordinary, totally normal-"
"Maria-"
"Nicholas mind-raped me," Maria said quickly, not noticing Larek watching her from the corner of his eye. "No biggie."
"He...did he touch you, Maria? In...places?"
"No, officer, he didn't touch me," Maria said sarcastically. "And you're asking the wrong questions, Alex. This is a debriefing, act like it. I don't have that much time. Put Maxi Pad on the line."
"Ooh, Maria don't call him that to his face," Alex said. "And don't think we're not gonna have a talk about this later either. I love you, blondie."
"Same to you, bassface." She smacked him a kiss over the phone.
"Girlfriend?" Max's voice cracked a little.
"Yo," Maria said. "It's me alive and kicking."
"I hope you kicked Nicholas a good one."
"Yeah, I did," Maria said well-aware that Max was probably caught in an ugly (and stupid) circle of self-blame. "Right in the chin, well-worth being kidnapped."
Max laughed weakly.
"Are you taking care of everyone, your highness?"
Max remembered who he was supposed to be, "Of course, Maria. Now how are you handling things on your end?"
"I have got my greedy little hands on mucho info. And at little cost I might add."
"You mean-"
"All Top Secret secrets are secret," she said in a chipper tone.
"Good job," Max said. "Hey, Michael wants to talk to you."
"Who?"
"Michael Guerin."
"Who?"
But no one answered Maria's question.
All she heard was the sound of the phone being handed over. A gruff, medium-textured voice. "Hey."
"Hey." She was supposed to know this guy. She tried to think. Michael...No dice.
"You doing good," he said. It wasn't really a question.
"I'm fine, thank you," Maria answered politely.
"Max says you're doing good work. Must be everything I taught you."
"Taught me? Right. Couldn't do it without you."
A pause. She must've said something right.
Michael spoke again, tentatively, "You know what I said? Before. About stopping?"
"Hey, you're talking to the girl with a mind like a sieve."
He laughed briefly. "Well, I never stopped. I need you to know."
"Quitters never win," Maria said.
"Uh, yeah."
Larek appeared by her side, "Our bus is leaving. Wrap it up."
"Chill, spaceboy, before you go all hanging-up on me again. Let me finish speaking to my dear friend Michael." She turned back to the receiver to say goodbye but all she got was the dialtone.
She turned to Larek, shrugging.
He took her bag from her hand and hefted it onto his shoulder. He quirked his eyebrow at her, "Do you even know what a sieve is?"
"Your face is going to freeze like that," Larek warned.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Larek smirked. "Good, you're snarling. I was afraid the dimples had set in permanently."
Maria looked at him blankly, "Did you forget your Grape-Nuts or are you being snotty cause you can't help but obey your baser instincts?"
Larek looked at her seriously and responded in a falsetto. "I'm resilient, I bite back, I kick ass. Girl power!" His voice returned to normal. "Oh, please. I thought you trusted these friends of yours so much, you can't tell them you're less stable than Mariah Carey?"
"So I fronted a little," she huffed. "I'm just protecting them."
"Uh huh," he swung onto the bus and gave the driver their tickets.
"Protecting you, too, O Snarky One." She sat next to the window while he stowed her bag. "You gave your Jedi bond on my safety and now you're all eager to have them on your back?"
Larek sat, "I can't question your integrity without gettting interrogated?"
"What? You want me to take the insults graciously?"
"That's my point. Could you answer the question without inserting more question marks into the conversation?"
"Could you?"
"Kidnapped, tortured, and nearly killed all in one day. And yet," he let it hang.
"And yet?" Maria ventured.
"And yet you still talk. What does it take to shut you up?"
"A fireplace and a tea cozy."
Larek mulled it over, "Will we be throwing you into the fire?"
"No."
"Ruin my fun." He pouted.
"I think I had more fun with Nicholas. Do you think he'd take me back?" Maria fluttered her eyelashes.
"Only if you told him where the granolith was," Larek said in a lower voice.
"The what?" Maria lied. "Your big rock slash national symbol, you mean. If I told him it was in Disneyland, do you think he'd believe me?"
"That depends. Is that where it is?"
"Wouldn't you know better than me?" Maria looked into Larek's eyes. "Since it's your Lincoln Monument not mine."
Larek looked at her intently. "Max said you know where the granolith is."
Maria snorted, "Max also thinks I'm a size five."
Larek paused, "Are you saying you don't remember where the granolith is?"
"Should I know," Maria asked worriedly. Suddenly, the bus hit a bump and Maria's shoulder hit the window with a large thump. She clutched at it, grimacing, "Damnit, where'd he learn to drive?"
Rubbing her shoulder, Maria turned back to Larek, "If it's that important do you wanna, you know, try to find out?" She gestured towards her temples and leaned forwards invitingly.
Larek only patted her other shoulder. "No, don't worry about it. It's not important. We'll get your memories back for you and all will be well." He smiled. "I'll take care of everything."
The bus moved slowly away from the municipal buildings and lampposts into stretches of rolling verdant hillside and pecan trees.
Enclosed and surrounded as they were by strangers, Maria and Larek lapsed into thoughtful silence. It was a new thing. Usually, they did their reflection apart. Shared company led to involuntary mutual abuse. The brain to mouth express train, with no stops at Sensitive or Deep Deliberation, and most certainly not at Tact.
Maria turned her body to face the window, but was still unable to block out Larek's presence. She watched the clouds move to mask the sun.
Why did I lie? Somehow she did know where the granolith was. It was a part of her now. The slant of sunlight as it entered the chamber only to be absorbed the strange natural light of the pods. The width of the grooves caused by erosion. The dust that lay nowhere. All hers. She smiled, a human and she was claiming ownership. Or it was claiming her. Whatever.
Oh, that'll work when Larek finds out I lied to him (again). I'll just tell him the granolith made me do it.
Who knows? Maybe it did.
Nope, she refused to believe it. I make my own decisions and I own up to them. I will not blame an inanimate, if glorified, chunk of geologic peculiarity. I can't blame Larek and I can't even wholly blame Nicholas.
Shit. I jumped into this. All by myself.
Look at me, I'm raving Celine Dion.
Screw this. It is all Nicholas' fault.
***
He closed his eyes.
Snow.
Rose-tinted glaciers.
Snow.
Ice-capped mountain.
Snow.
Why couldn't he just picture the damn snow?
I just want to go home.
To Sydney.
To Sydney?
That was the wacko's kid.
Baby. Sweet apple-cheeked, honey-crowned princess.
He remembers Tuesdays at the Boston Rialto to watch Sparkle Pony Princesses, some cheap rip-off of some American cartoon from the last decade. It showed between episodes of The Jeffersons and Mork and Mindy on a station out of Atlanta that their flat couldn't pick up. So every Tuesday, he took Sydney to the Rialto with a trunk of her ponies and a tiara on her head. He remembers Laura complaining about the cost. Eventually finding Laura, hearing Laura in the room next door. Her flushed and smiling face when he pounded on the door. So satisfied-
Larek brought his mind to the fore and slammed Brody's personality down.
He'd been in the body too long.
Fuck.
He opened his eyes.
***
"We stop in a couple minutes," Maria told him. "We're almost outta Charlotte. Then we're going across the mountains into Tennessee."
Larek looked at her curiously, as if seeing her for the first time.
"What," she protested. "I can't be knowledgeable about the geography of this great nation?"
He was still looking at her funny.
Okay, so the kid in front told me." She looked at him. "What?"
"Your hair. It's so shiny."
"Thank you," she said politely.
"Fluffy, as well."
"Thank you, as well," she mocked him. "Now back to the matter at hand. We'll be stopping at Eagleton which reportedly has many an eatery. Having not eaten in...well, a way long time this gives me an edge of gustatory anticipation. But, because I am selfless, I have decided to let you pick our place of nourishment. So Italian, Chinese, German? Dunno about you but Ich leibe bratwurst."
"Whatever. You stuff your human face. I have things to do."
"Hey now. If I'm not mistaken you're wearing a human face, too. Granted, not an attractive one- Wait. Things to do? Like what? Is there an inter-dimensional portal under the Eagleton City Hall? No, don't tell me. There's an Aldebaran princess trapped beneath the Main Street gas station and general store and only you can save her."
"I'm going to pawn the jewelry."
"I hope you're talking about that hoop in your ear. My jewelry is off-limits."
"I paid for them. And someone has to keep you in bratwurst and spaetzle."
"They were gifts! Ammunition, remember?"
"And you fought. Move on. You don't need them."
"But I want them," she said, ignoring the fact that she'd planned on selling them earlier. "And what about the credit cards?"
"Traceable."
"Oh, like Nicholas knows how trace a credit card. And does he even know Brody's name? No. Brody doesn't matter to him, it's just a body. So no name, no prob."
"You're not giving Nicholas enough credit."
"I, of all people be they six-fingered or pointy-eared, am capable of giving Nicholas enough credit-"
"You just want-"
Maria crossed her arms. "Fine. The pearls, the white ones only. After that, you can sell your body to science."
"Thank you so much."
***
Bairstow. Chicken Fried Steak with country gravy. Dr. Pepper. And oddly enough a waitress named Agnes.
Maria shook her head and spooned up buttered corn. It'd only been two days but they seemed to blend into an unholy forever of bus, diner, and hotel. She hated eating by herself. Larek, as always, was off doing Larek-things. In approximately fifteen minutes (that was forty-five to eat), he would return and they would check into a hotel. At seven the next morning, they'd return to the bus depot and get on the first bus that was heading in the general direction of New Mexico giving them both time for Maria to be 'fixed' and enough of a loose schedule to avoid Nicholas.
She folded her napkin. In the hotel, Maria would shower and Larek would watch television. Sometimes they would talk. Usually, no. Then at seven-thirty, Maria would put her face in Larek's hands.
And she was born again.
Painfully.
***
Sucking hunger mama love warm hole swimming sweetheart me
loud
hurts -light hurts- sound hurts hands - cold
***
Maria put down her fork, chewed, and called for the check. Nicholas' "mind rape" and Larek's "recall" were not all that different. Figured. It seemed that everything aliens did, they did with style -and pain.
When Larek clamped his hands down on Maria's skull, it was This is Your Life, Spock Style.
Dichotomy. She was herself, Maria the observer. And Maria, the object. She felt every emotion she had felt when she was five and her father left. Sadness. Anger. Loss. But now she also understood with the maturity of an adult.
And she was not sure which was worse. Her father was actually (Miracle of miracles!) been something, she'd remembered. So fast forward past the piggy back rides and "I love you's" and to the point of...
***
Where she knew what was going to happen. And in her mind she screamed to Little Sweet Innocent Maria, don't! Don't hug him! Don't say good-bye! He's not coming back, don't smile!
Maybe this time he'll stay.
***
Of course he hadn't. Maria the Seventeen-Year Old knew that. Had prepared herself for it. But it still sucked.
She was wrecked all over again.
Larek hadn't explained what was going to happen. She'd been scared that he'd be coming along for the ride, plumbing her memories. Finding out too much about her. About the granolith.
But she'd had no choice. I just gotta be me. Completely.
Okay. Personal inventory.
Mom's name? Amy Anne DeLuca.
Favorite color? Lavender.
First broken bone? Femur. Stupid swings.
Hobbies? Singing, tying my shoes, and talking.
Best buds? Alex Charles Whitman. Elizabeth Claudia Parker.
Life's Ambition? To be on Kids Incorporated.
***
She was still trying to figure out the mystery of Michael when Larek came into the restaurant.
He slid into the booth opposite her and waved Agnes off. She could see a key in his fist, probably for the hotel. Larek crossed his arms and didn't say anything so Maria looked away.
Right. Back to this Michael.
They were deep enough into her memories now that Maria remembered a boy, a sullen boy. One of the three newbies when she got into the third grade. Quiet. Not someone she'd ever spoken to. She tried to connect the image with the voice she'd heard on the phone. Raspy.
Obviously apart of the Roswell Paranoia League, Extraterrestrial Division. And from what Max and Alex said, someone important. A best friend? A boyfriend?
She had a boyfriend? She wondered how far they'd gone. Second base? Was she that kind of girl? Yeah, probably.
"Ready to go?" Larek said, pushing bills onto the table.
Maria nodded and stood. She could daydream about her possibly hot boyfriend later, it was Arnold Schwarzenegger time. Total Recall.
To be continued...
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