Parents
by
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't own them. Jason Katims and Melinda Metz own them. The WB might, UPN might, I don't know. But not me!
Author's Note: I don't know why, but I've always envisioned Isabel as the midwife when one of the aliens has a child. So. Just to let you know. Canon through just after 'Baby, it's You', then AU.
Author's Note 2: The fate of this series will be determined by feedback. Nobody likes it, it won't continue. If people like it, I'll finish it. So, please tell me where you stand!
Summary: After 'Baby, it's You', this is my version of what might have happened.
Rating: PG-13
PART TWO
Several hours later, the inevitable had arrived. Isabel had changed out the blood vial without incident, altering it to look the way Tess's had, minus the alien genes, of course. Their son was pronounced healthy, and taken to the nursery, where he rested in a bassinet under the name 'Joshua Evans-Harding'.
But now they had to deal with something far more terrifying: Parents.
They had decided to speak to the sheriff first, knowing that the more information they could give out, the easier it would be at first. He was currently pacing the room, after having rushed in and hugged Tess, his eyes wet. The Evans' were outside, knowing nothing except that their eighteen-year-old son now had an infant son of his own.
"Look, Max, how is it possible that we didn't notice she was pregnant?" He asked.
"Alien pregnancies only take about a month. We hid her at Michael's for a while after she started showing, and Joshua is about five days early."
The sheriff was quiet for a long moment. "Well, this is a bit of a shock," was all he said before asking Max if he wanted to speak to his parents.
Max nodded. "But give me a minute," He told Jim. "Tell them I'll come out there."
Valenti nodded, and left the room, and Max sighed. "Well, here we go," He remarked to himself.
"Do you want them to come in here?" Tess asked. "That way, I can help you," She reminded him.
Max shook his head, smiling affectionately at her. "No. You shouldn't be stressing yourself out too much right now. I'm just going to go collect Joshua, and then talk to them. Hopefully, they'll be civil." He grinned ruefully.
Tess gave him a worried smile. "Good luck, Max."
He smiled. "Don't worry."
Max moved silently from the room, watching Isabel distract their parents so that he could sneak by to the nursery. Once there, one of the nurses came over and smiled, asking if she could help him. Max nodded.
"I'd like to see my son," He responded. The nurse's smile faded a little, but Max paid no notice.
"Sure," The slightly overweight lady responded. "Who is he?"
"Joshua Evans-Harding," Max responded, pointing to the infant wrapped in a forest green jumper and white and blue blanket.
The nurse's smile returned full-force. "He's a cutie-pie. Not a cry out of him, yet anyway. Must have his father's genes. You seem like a quiet young man."
Max smiled. "Yeah, I guess." The nurse bustled off to get Joshua, and came back a few moments later with the infant wrapped in a blanket.
"Now, you keep him warm, don't take him into the waiting room, and bring him back before... let's see, is the mother breast-feeding him?"
Max nodded.
"Okay. Then bring him back at six, and make sure that he gets an opportunity to nurse at least every two hours, all right?"
Max nodded. "Yes. Thank you." He turned slowly, his gaze on the wrinkled little baby in his arms, as he headed back to the waiting room on the maternity floor. Knocking softly on the glass doors, he attracted his parents and Isabel's attention.
Diane Evans and her husband, followed closely by their daughter, pushed through the doors into what was called the family acquainting room, and dutifully washed their hands in the sink while Max stayed a distance, offering little Joshua his finger to suckle. The infant latched on surprisingly strongly, and Max laughed, earning a smile from Isabel, who was soapy up to her elbows.
When everyone was suitably clean, Max motioned them over, and held up the sleepy infant for everyone to see. "Mom, Dad, this is Joshua Michael Evans-Harding."
Isabel's eyes rose to her brother's. "Michael?" She asked.
Max nodded, and was about to speak when he heard the door open and a felt a familiar presence. "Thanks, Maxwell."
Standing in the doorway stood Liz, Michael, Maria and Kyle. Michael looked a little teary-eyed, but seemed happy, Maria looked torn between her boyfriend and her best friend, who looked seriously pissed, and Kyle seemed expressionless, just taking it all in.
They all soaped their hands quickly, drying themselves and wandering over one at a time, Michael first. He looked at the infant oddly, as if he didn't know what to make of it. "This-" he pointed, "Is what was inside Tess for-"
Max cut him off, afraid he would say something about the alien gestation period. "Yeah. I guess we know why she was so crabby now, huh?" He replied, smiling a little. "Do you want to hold him, Michael? He is your godson, after all."
Michael looked up at his best friend. "You... you made him my godson?" He asked, stunned.
Max smiled at his best friend. "Yep. Do you want to hold him?" He asked again, trying to ignore Michael's obvious gawking.
"Uh... okay. What do I do?" He asked.
Max held out his son to his best friend. "Here. Just support his head like this-" He arranged Michael's hands, "and the rest of him, like this. You can let him suck on your little finger, he likes to do that."
Michael tentatively reached a hand around, and put it in front of little Joshua's mouth. The infant latched on strongly, and Michael laughed. "He's strong, Max."
Maria had stepped up, and was cooing over the infant. Then, in a surprisingly abrupt change of mood, she turned to Max and tore into him. "What were you thinking?!"
Max, unprepared for her onslaught, was nearly speechless. "I... wasn't thinking, Maria. Not about this, anyway."
"Obviously not. You even have any idea how you're going to support this child, Max? That job at the UFO center ain't gonna cut it."
"Maria."
Maria ignored her boyfriend's voice. "How are you going to go to school, Max? You're only finishing junior year. You have a whole 'nother year to go."
"Maria!"
Maria looked over at her boyfriend. "What, Michael?"
"Leave the interrogation for his parents, huh? No offense, Mr. and Mrs. Evans."
Max's parents nodded, a little dazed at the onslaught, and the friends that had appeared, and everything. "Max... why didn't you tell us?" His father asked, looking rather upset and uncomfortable.
"Give us a minute?" Max asked. His friends nodded and retreated, Isabel claiming little Joshua Michael from his godfather's arms. Kyle wandered into Tess's room to say hello to his foster sister, and Mr. and Mrs. Evans went willingly enough with Max to a quiet corner of the room.
The momentary transformation into the King was gone, and nervous, young Max Evans was back in full force. "I don't know. Because I knew you'd be disappointed in me, I guess."
Mr. Evans nodded after a long moment of silence. "We can't tell you we aren't, Max. You're losing a lot of chances by becoming a father this young. But we would have supported you, been there for you. You wouldn't have to have done this alone."
Max looked over at his sister, who was happily playing the doting aunt to the hours-old infant. "I wasn't alone," He responded.
"I guess not. Really, Max, why could you tell them, and not us?" Diane Evans asked.
Because I'm an alien King, and they know all about it, and you don't. Externally, he responded, "I guess, because even though they're scared for me, they aren't ... ashamed of me."
"Max, we could never be ashamed of you. Disappointed in your actions, perhaps, but never ashamed of you. We love you, Max. We're just hurt that you didn't feel you could tell us about this."
"I'm sorry. I really am. I guess I was just trying to deal with Tess and him," He motioned to his infant son, "and Alex, too, and I didn't think I could live with you hating me right then."
His parents looked down on him, his mother with anger and hurt in her gaze, his father's facial expressions more guarded. But both of them with love apparent in their gazes, and Max reached out impulsively to hug them. "Thank you," He mumbled uncomfortably against his mother's sleeve.
"For what, Max?"
"For everything. For loving me, and for taking care of me, and for providing for me, but mostly for two things: adopting me and Iz, and not hating me right now."
Max drew away from his parents, and smiled at them, accepting the hand on his shoulder from his father, and then gesturing towards his infant son. "Well, grandma and grandpa, don't you think you'd better meet your first grandchild?"
Diane Evans nodded. "Yes, Max. And while we're at it... his mother?"
Max looked at the ground. Tess. He hadn't told his parents yet, and they didn't really know Tess, so he was sure it would be a surprise. But he'd only ever seriously dated one person, and Liz was clearly not the mother. Inwardly, he cringed. But outwardly, he maintained his cool, and nodded. "Yeah."
Heading back into the sea of baby-talking friends and relatives, seeking out Isabel and his son, but instead, found baby Joshua in Maria's arms, with all of them gathered around her.
She looked up as soon as he approached. "Look, Joshua, it's Daddy!" She exclaimed, holding the infant up a little.
Max smiled, but reminded Maria that his son's eyesight wouldn't be developed enough to identify him for a while yet.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, but you can never start introducing yourself too soon, can you?"
Max grinned at that, and held out his hands. Maria carefully placed the little form in his hands, sweeping a finger lovingly across his forehead before she let Max leave. "I'll be your baby-sitter whenever you want," She offered.
Michael groaned, and whispered something in her ear. She swatted him. "Michael!"
"Well, it's true, isn't it? And face it. What would you rather be doing: Changing diapers, or... making out with me?"
Maria blushed beet-red, and Isabel and Liz laughed. Max took the moment to slip away and back to where his parents awaited him, his eyes never leaving his infant son's.
Joshua appeared sleepy but not asleep, his eyelids drooping and his thumb in his mouth, but still staring up at his father. Max could only imagine how he must look to a being so new to the world. Soon, he and Tess would connect to Joshua, but they wanted him to be somewhat used to the world before they did so.
Holding him out for inspection, Max presented the Evans' with their first and possibly only grandchild. Despite their anger and disappointment with their son, their love and caring and awe was clearly visible in the way that they looked at the tiny form in Max's arms.
When Isabel joined them, the little family reunion headed for Tess's room, speaking as they went.
"So, Max, I was going to let you take your time telling us who the mother of this child is, but I really think we need to know, and I don't know when you'll decide to tell us."
Max let a pause hang in the air between them, before answering reluctantly. "Tess. Tess Harding."
His parents looked puzzled, and Max realized that most of their visits either took place outside of the house, or through the window. Rarely did Tess come to his house and enter through the front door.
"You probably know her as Isabel's friend," Max told them.
They nodded a little as the memories came back. "Small, curly blond hair?" Mr. Evans asked. Max nodded, smiling a little with the mental picture in his head, then looking down at Joshua.
The boy had his father's dark, almost black hair, but he had his mother's blue eyes. Max knew that all babies were born with blue eyes, but Joshua's were especially bright, and he suspected they might stay that way, inherited from his mother.
Diane Evans took her son's arm, and guided him away from Isabel and his father. "We'll be just a minute," She told them.
Max awaited the lecture, the questions, the torment that he'd been surprised not to have already received, but it didn't come. Instead, she looked deep into her son's eyes, and asked him one question. "You really love her, don't you, Max."
Max looked down in an effort to hide the smile that crept onto his face at the mention of his alien bride. "Yeah."
His mother smiled. "Well, I'm glad for you, Max," She told him sincerely. "Always remember that. It'll make life a lot easier."
Max gave a soft smile, and nodded. "I will, Mom."
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