Enemy on the Inside
by
Disclaimer: Not mine. Jason Katims. The WB. UPN. All not me, so I guess they're not mine.
Author's Note: This is cliche. I admit it. Hurt/comfort stories are really done much too often. But a good H/C story is the only thing that can make me cry, and I like to write them, as well. Please give it a chance.
Setting: AU-post 'Departure'. Alex is alive, Tess is gone, there is no kid. Michael and Maria as they were, Max and Liz together again, Alex and Isabel, too. Isabel and Kyle's (platonic!) relationship occurred as it did on the show.
Summary: Max's life is threatened by an illness that no one thought would claim the health of the King. What can a helpless group of teenagers do against an enemy that strikes from the inside?
Rating: By chapter
CHAPTER ONE--PG
The group of teenagers in the window seat at the Crashdown looked nothing like it had only weeks previously. Threats coming their way from eight different directions at once was often enough to make people grumpy and tired, and Max had no doubts that they had been entitled to it, but still, it felt good to have people look at them and smile, and it felt even better to be doing the smiling himself.
It had taken some time, some trust being reaffirmed, but Max and Liz had straightened things out. Michael and Maria were closer than ever, and Alex and Isabel were slowly but surely working towards what Max knew would be a very strong relationship.
"So," Isabel said. "I told him to buzz off, and then he flashed me! I think he got detention for about a million weeks." Everybody laughed, and Max smiled to see his sister having fun. Even the normally introverted Liz and Isabel seemed to be loosening up and showing their party faces.
Max squeezed Liz's shoulder, his arm draped over hers, and she looked at him and gave him that secret look. That look that only they knew about, that was only theirs. That look that could communicate anything in seconds. Maria noticed from where she sat on Michael's lap, and grinned at Liz, who smiled back just as brightly.
Alex and Isabel sat together, though not really touching. Max had a feeling if he looked under the table, he'd see them holding hands, but Isabel, comfortable as she was with their relationship, wasn't really ready to be seen in the public eye yet. Despite the spontaneous prom kiss, she'd been rather shy with public affection since then.
Apparently, Maria had the same idea, because she started playing with a straw, and moments later, Max noticed her clumsily 'drop' it under the table. She leaned down to pick it up, and came up smiling, which Max took as a yes.
He was glad his sister was happy. That was really all that mattered in her relationship with Alex. She was happy, Alex wasn't complaining, so Max was glad for her. She'd taken long enough to decide to trust him, but now that she had, she seemed to go for all the way, and Max hoped that she didn't overwhelm him, but at the moment, there appeared no real danger of that.
Kyle, sitting rather quietly alone in the corner of the booth, spoke up for the first time. "Maria, guess who I saw today?"
Maria rolled her eyes. "I know who you saw. Now, the question is, what obscene thing were she and your father doing?"
Kyle grimaced. "I really don't know. I didn't get close enough to find out. As soon as I heard the moaning, I took off."
Maria groaned, and put her head in her hands. "They're like horny teenagers! They're always all over each other, in broom closets, when I get home from work, anywhere they think they're alone. Honestly, they spend more time pawing each other than all six of us!"
Liz laughed, and put her head on Max's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Maria."
"You're sorry! Kyle and I are the ones who have to live with them! And I'm telling you, it's like having a dog in heat around, perpetually!"
Michael closed his hands around her waist as she squirmed, exuberantly moving her hands to make her point.. "Maria, you're going to fall off and crack your skull if you don't stop moving."
Maria obediently quit squirming, but looked at Liz and said, "I bet he'd save me if I did. Then you and I could both have been healed by an alien in this restaurant."
Michael glared at her, and Maria grinned angelically back. Max leaned over to kiss Liz's cheek, and glanced up as the door to the Crashdown clanged open, and pulled slowly shut again.
To his surprise, the entire football team of West Roswell High had just wandered through the door, and Liz's father was frantically waving at Liz and Maria, mouthing the word 'overtime'. They both sighed, but kissed their boyfriends, and stood to go.
"See you tonight, Max?" Liz asked.
"Yeah. But I'll be here for a while longer, if you get them taken care of, and have some free time."
Liz grinned, and wandered away, waving back at him.
Across the table, Maria had turned to straddle Michael, and was whispering something in his ear. Max watched his best friend run his hands up and down his girlfriend's back, nipping gently on Maria's earlobe while she talked.
Isabel watched the couple interestedly, sneaking glances to see what Alex thought of the scene periodically. The dark-haired boy watched them seemingly indifferently, but Isabel could see a smile tugging on his lips, and she smiled at him when his gaze fell on her. "Lucky me."
Isabel frowned quizzically. "Lucky you?"
"I'm the only one who's girlfriend doesn't have to rush off to work."
Isabel grinned, and put her head on his shoulder. "Lucky you," she agreed. She turned to kiss Alex's cheek softly, but her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of Max, and she was surprised to see her brother grimacing. "Are you okay, Max?" She asked.
Max looked up. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."
"You sure? You looked like something was wrong."
He shook his head a little. "My stomach hurts a little, that's all."
"Max, we don't get sick," Isabel reminded him softly, leaning across the table. "If you think you're sick, something's wrong."
Max smiled at her a little, but it seemed forced. "Don't worry about me, Iz. If it doesn't go away in a while, we'll think about dealing with it. For now, just assume that I'm a little more human than I would like. I've probably got heartburn or something."
Isabel frowned, but sat back. She knew it was no such thing, but she also knew that Max wouldn't talk to her right now, she could see it in his eyes. Plus, the Crashdown was hardly the most secure of locations. "Okay. But we'd better be going home, Alex, Michael."
Max sent a look at her. "No, I'm really fine, Iz. I told Liz I'd stick around, too."
Isabel met his eyes fearlessly. "I think we'd better be going home, Max." The inflection on her voice was clear.
Max sighed, rolled his eyes, and pulled himself out of the booth. "Tell Liz I had to go home?" He asked Alex, who nodded.
"Sure. Anything else?"
Max furrowed his brow in thought. "Could you ask her to call me?" He requested.
Alex nodded. "Sure thing. I'll call you, too, Isabel."
Isabel smiled. "Thanks." She turned to Michael. "I guess we'll see you later. Be available?" She requested gently.
Max shook his head. "I'm fine." He and Michael exchanged a look over Isabel's head.
"I saw that, guys. And I know I'm probably being paranoid. But let's not risk another episode like Michael's, huh?" Dutifully, they both nodded their heads, and Isabel hurried her brother out of the restaurant.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When they arrived at home, Max and Isabel were surprised to find their mother there. "Hey, Mom! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?" Isabel asked.
"Oh! Hey, guys," She greeted her children. "I was just looking for some papers I needed at the office. I forgot them this morning." Her brow furrowed, and Isabel almost laughed at how much Max had gotten that from his mother, biological or otherwise.
"What are you doing back so soon?" She wondered aloud. "Are you alright?"
Max waved his hand and was about to dismiss his mother's concern when Isabel answered for him. "Max has a stomachache. He doesn't think it's bad, we just came home because I insisted."
Diane Evans put everything down on the table and rushed over to Max. In the motherly way that all mothers do, she put her hand on his forehead, and used the other to guide him until he was sitting down in a dining room chair. "I'm fine," Max protested quietly, but his mother paid no mind.
"You don't seem to have a fever," She decided. Removing her hand, she put it on Max's belly, and started asking him where it hurt.
When her hand was positioned directly above his navel, nearly inside his ribs, Max nodded. "There," He told her, still looking at the ceiling and rolling his eyes. "But really, Mom, I'm fine. Isabel brought me home because she worries too much. It doesn't even hurt anymore."
"We should take you to a doctor," His mother decided, and started to walk towards the phone.
"No! Mom, I don't need a doctor. Just take me upstairs and I'll take a nap, okay?" He stared down his mother, doing his best to convince her of his lack of need for medical attention.
Diane nodded reluctantly, and then stood him up and walked him to his bedroom. "Lie down and get some rest, then, if you won't do anything else. I don't want to see you doing anything but sleeping, or maybe reading a book until five, alright?"
Max nodded, giving his mother a little smile and a kiss on the cheek. "Okay, Mom. Now, go back to work."
"Work!" His mother slapped her forehead in a gesture that would have been comical if she hadn't been so serious. "I forgot to call them and tell them I wasn't coming back!"
Max put his hand on his mother's shoulder. "Well, that's good, because you don't need to."
"Max, you never get sick. This must be something that needs watching, at the very least. I'm going to stay home, and that's final."
Max opened his mouth, but Isabel sensed that it would do no good, so she stepped in. "Mom, weren't you supposed to meet someone for lunch?"
"Oh! Yes, a friend of mine from work. I think I have her cell phone number, though. Just give me a minute, I'll be right back."Isabel pushed her brother down on the bed. "Don't move," She ordered, stepping out of the room, to follow her mother. "Mom, you should go to lunch. You said you haven't seen this woman in a long time, well, now's your chance. I'll watch Max, and you can come back in a couple of hours."
"No, it's alright. Thank you, Isabel, for offering, though." Diane continued searching through her handbag for the number.
"Mom." Isabel pulled her mother around so that the older woman was facing her daughter. "Go."
"But Max-"
"Is fine. He'll take a nap, he'll be even better, you can't do anything while he sleeps, anyway. Go out and have fun."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
Diane nodded, and kissed her daughter on the cheek before heading noisily down the stairs and out the door. Isabel waited only long enough to hear her mother's car leaving the driveway before she barged into Max's room, looking to have a long talk with her brother about why he was blowing off the only illness that he'd had in his entire life.
To her surprise, Max actually was asleep. Moving closer to the bed, she checked for his telltale faint snore. Her brother was an accomplished fake sleeper, and she was making sure he wasn't just trying to duck this conversation. But she heard the tiny exhalations, and backed away from the bed, a frown creasing her face.
Moving slowly away from the bed, Isabel turned and crept downstairs, looking for something to do until her brother awoke. There was, as usual, nothing good on television at two in the afternoon, no movies in the house besides the ones she owned and had seen a million times, and their computer was in Max's room.
She finally settled on a book. Surprisingly to those who didn't spend a lot of time with her, Isabel had rather eclectic tastes in reading material. She enjoyed the occasional romance novel, but read mostly dramas, many to do with terminal illnesses. She shied away from science fiction novels due to her own heritage, but liked thrillers, and could get very sentimental over a good book. Few things besides a well-written book could make Isabel Evans cry.
Hours passed as she found herself amazingly enthralled in the adventures of the heroine in her latest book, a drama with a thriller twist. The girl escaped danger many times, but unlike other people who would have laughed at the implausible escapes, Isabel didn't find them either amusing or unbelievable.
'Been there, done that' sort of lends a new twist to the idea, Isabel thought. I've escaped danger that close at least that many times.
Something shifted upstairs, and Isabel looked at her watch. Nearly two hours had passed since she'd settled in on the couch, and the floor upstairs was creaking, which could probably be equated with her brother arising. Making her way softly up the steps in case she was wrong, Isabel headed for Max's room.
She wasn't wrong. He brother was off his bed and running a comb through his hair, smoothing it down rather unnaturally. He was wearing slacks and a nice polo shirt, and Isabel knew he wasn't planning on sitting around in those clothes. "Where are you going?" She asked.
Her brother turned quickly in surprise. "Iz!"
Isabel stood impassive in the door, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Liz and I made plans. I'm meeting her somewhere in.." He looked down at his watch, "Twenty minutes. Sorry to sleep like that, and then run out on you."
Isabel put her hands on her brother's shoulders, and pushed him back down on the bed. "Sit."
"Isabel, I really have to meet Liz. I'll be late if I don't go."
Isabel shoved the phone in her brother's hand. "Here. She has a cell phone, call it."
"And tell her?"
"That you've been abducted by aliens."
"Ha ha, Isabel."
"I'm an alien."
Max stared at her, trying to use the power of his determination against her, but Isabel's concern for his well-being was a powerful ally, and she held fast. Finally, out of frustration more than anything, Max dialed Liz's number, and told her that Isabel needed to talk to him, and could they reschedule.
When he hung up, he looked back at his sister. "Well? Could you tell me what I cancelled my date for?"
Isabel put her hands back on his shoulders, and pushed him onto his back. She climbed up on his bed beside him, and leaned over him, her loose blond hair dangling in his face.
Pushing her hair aside and holding it out of the way, Max looked down at his sister as she poked around in his stomach. "What are you doing?" He asked.
"Looking for something, anything. I know I'm not a doctor, but I'll know if there's anything terribly obvious."
"I would too."
"Yeah, maybe if you weren't so determined to ignore it," Isabel answered.
Frowning, she pushed again on a mass she found just below where he'd told their mother the pain was. "Max."
"Yeah?"
"Nothing in your body is supposed to be that hard." She took his hand, and guided it to a spot on his stomach. "Feel that?"
Under Isabel's fingers was a lump, about the size of a tangerine, and almost round. It was very hard, and apparently tender, because when Max felt it, he gasped a little. "Yeah, I feel it."
"That's not normal, Max."
Her brother shrugged, and closed his eyes. He waved a hand over his stomach, and opened his eyes again, and Isabel felt for the lump.
It was still there.
This time, Isabel waved her hand over Max's stomach, concentrating hard. She could feel the lump dissolving, breaking apart... and suddenly, she was warned by some intuition that she didn't want to do that. Hurriedly, she gathered it back together, and replaced it in the hard ball.
"You had it, Iz," Max told her with a quizzical expression on his face. "Why'd you stop?"
Isabel raised her head, her eyes telling grim stories. "It's... strange feeling. Not normal. I think it's cancerous, Max. If I'm right, and I'd dissolved it, the cancer would have spread throughout your body in a matter of hours."
~~~~~~~~~~
Slightly in shock, Max just looked at his sister. She'd told him all of that in a strange, monotonic voice, and he hadn't quite absorbed it. Not that he thought he would have absorbed it any faster in any tone.
Cancer. The aliens had fought every enemy known to man, and many known not to man, but illness was never a battle they'd fought. They were scared of it, scared of the exposure that would be necessary to heal it, scared of everything it was, and everything it represented, more than all the enemies they had on the world and off.
Michael had only barely pulled through, and if Isabel was right about this tumor, then the alien powers wouldn't help Max. What could they do? Ordinarily, surgery would have been the right option, but that was out of the question. They couldn't put him under the knife when the doctors didn't know he wasn't human.
And they couldn't very well tell them the truth, either.
"What do we do, Max?" Isabel whispered.
Max looked up, and met his sister's eyes, and spoke softly. "Gather the others. Tell them we'll be at Michael's. And leave Mom a note so that she doesn't look for us. Then meet me in the car."
Isabel nodded, and hurried to complete her tasks. Grabbing an old medical text, Max dove into the computer, doing his best to absorb rapidly what information he found on the internet that appeared relevant.
Meeting Isabel on the stairs fifteen minutes later, they headed out, barely missing their mother's arrival. The note that Iz had left said they were at the Crashdown because Max was better, but both knew they wouldn't be anywhere near the Crashdown.
Heading to Michael's apartment, the teenagers bounded up the stairs, and flung open the door to find the others already gathered in the small room. "What's this all about?" Liz asked, heading to Max's side. He pulled her close, clinging a little more than usual, Isabel noticed.
Alex came to collect her, and she held him close, as well. Sitting down on Michael's couch was out, because of the size of the thing, or rather the lack of size, so she opted to stand. Alex leaned his back against a wall, and pulled her back against him, but she was too nervous and rigid to lean.
Eyes nervous, heads turning, then eyes filling with fear, Max told them what he and Isabel had discovered.
~~~~~~~~~~~
A long silence followed. Then Liz spoke up. "So, what do we do?" She asked.
Isabel spoke to answer the dark-haired girl's question. "We get him the surgery. It won't be easy, but I'm sure we can manage somehow."
Max shook his head. "No, Izzy, it's too dangerous. Much too high a risk of the government discovering us."
"Well, what else are we going to do?" She asked, semi-hysterical, though successfully holding it in and under some semblance of control.
Max's face was grim as he answered. "We don't panic."
Isabel looked at her brother, and muttered under her breath. "Yet."
Max turned his head, catching the eyes of all his friends, and making sure they knew he was serious. "We'll do some research, work on it with our powers a bit. Maybe Larek will come through for us."
The alien pulled Liz to his side. "Okay. Here are the important things. No one can know I'm sick. If we can find one we trust, we get a doctor into our confidence. If we can't, we fight it with our powers. But we cannot, cannot let anyone know I'm in less than perfect condition. We're already in more danger, especially when our enemies learn we've lost Tess."
No one wanted to talk about The-one-whose-name-should-not-be-mentioned, but Max, always the sturdy leader, had known it was a reality, and that reality had to faced. Max often shied away from his own emotions and feelings, but the King had a firm base in the realities of life.
The group looked around at each other, gathering courage from Max's show of strength. They certainly didn't think that Max shouldn't be challenged once in a while, but he seemed certain at the moment, and they were willing to let that be. "So," Alex said. "What're our assignments, Alien Leader?"
Liz smiled a little, and Maria gave a sad imitation of one. Isabel gave her boyfriend a grateful smile. That was Alex, always trying to lighten the load, make things a little easier for people to deal with.
"Thanks," She whispered under her breath.
"No problem." Alex smiled warmly back at her, running a thumb down her cheekbone. "Never, Iz."
Max started handing out assignments then, and Isabel listened, hoping that Max would make use of her talents. Maybe she could dreamwalk a couple of doctors, learn some practical information.
After Alex was put on computer duty, Liz on interview duty, and Maria on natural remedies, Max turned to Isabel, Kyle and Michael. "Iz, Michael, you do whatever you think you can. Maybe you could make use of your dreamwalking, Isabel."
Kyle was about to ask what he was to do, when Max answered the question. "Kyle, you can help whoever you want, though I bet Iz could use your help." Kyle smiled a little at Max, probably the first time they'd exchanged anything but angry remarks, and Isabel knew he was thanking some higher power for being paired with the only alien he appeared to be able to stand.
"All right, everyone!" Max didn't raise his voice, but Isabel could swear he commanded more attention than a thousand shouting generals. There was just something about Max, a compulsion to listen. No one seemed to be able to help themselves. They all turned to point their eyes in the King's direction.
"Get going, and good luck."
[Prologue] [1]
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