Part 14
"How did you find out?" Liz asked quietly after they had drive close to fifty miles in silence. It was so sudden, it made Max jump slightly. She had not spoken a word since agreeing that she would accompany he and Ben to Marathon. Max had even wondered at one point if she had fallen asleep. Her eyes [I]were[/I] closed, it was past one A.M now after all, and it had been a long, emotionally draining day.
But Max should have known better. She had been thinking, forming questions in that razor sharp mind of hers, formalizing a plan of attack. And now it was time to face the music. He smiled slightly to himself, momentarily remembering another time when she had prepared herself for him in advance.
[I] "I need to know the truth Max. I need to know...everything. Or I'll - I'm just going to go to Valenti and tell him everything I know." [/I]
He had known even then that she would never do such a thing. He had trusted her with his secret because he had the utmost faith in her - it was only after the trip to Antar that he actually knew [I]why[/I] he had so trusted her, but that did not negate the fact that he had always believed in her above all others, from the first moment he had laid eyes on her when he was eight years old.
And now it was time to trust her again - with the horrible truth of what he had done while he had been away from her.
"How did I find out what?" He asked, although he knew exactly what she wanted to know.
Liz sighed softly. "About Ben? That he's Alex's son." Her tone demonstrated that she was trying to mask her impatience.
"I didn't know right away." Max admitted. "I only found out when Khivar bragged about it." He frowned slightly. "I had finally learned where he was keeping Ben hidden. The democratic rebellion was in full swing by this point. Ben was in extreme danger because he represented the future of the monarchy. If they had gotten their hands on him, they would have killed him, even though everyone thought he was [I]my[/I] son."
"But weren't you leading the rebellion?" Liz returned, logically. Unfortunately, very little of what had happened on Antar involved logic.
"Technically." Max shrugged. "I told you before. I didn't really care about the planet's future one way or the other. They knew it and knew that if Khivar could continue to use my son, he would. They wanted him dead. [I]I[/I] just wanted my son and I wanted to get things settled well enough that I wouldn't be needed there anymore...so that I could live my life out here. It annoyed them. They wanted me to stay around after they won, to help with the transition. It was another reason they wanted Ben dead. They thought that if they killed him, I'd have no reason to come back to Earth."
The Antarians had never understood that it was what he had wanted more than anything - to find his son and return to Earth - to return to Liz and his family and friends. They had not understood that he had never felt any attachment for Antar, even after returning there. Leaving Earth had only reinforced to Max that it was his home, at least in this life. Being on Antar, made it even clearer. He had longed for Earth, longed for all it represented to him - security, happiness, love. He swallowed, hard, remembering how that longing had sustained him. They had not understood anything about him in the end. Not his devotion to a child mothered by his traitorous bride, nor his love for his adopted planet.
It was why he had had to escape them in the end. Because they would have never let him leave. They needed Zan as the figurehead of the new government. What [I]he[/I] had needed had not mattered one iota to any of them. It was this one fact that had helped Max to understand what his previous life had been like, what it must have been like to constantly feel as though others were controlling your destiny, that others were making your life for you.
Zan had needed an escape from the trap into which he had been born. He had found it in the arms of a serving girl named Kadiya. Zan had not been strong enough in the end though. He had let them win.
Max had not allowed it.
"Anyway," Max continued, pushing those memories aside for the moment, "Larek got some information that Ben was being kept in a secure holding of Khivar's near Antar's northern pole." He paused. "He got the information from Tess."
Max saw Liz flinch out of the corner of his eye. "Why would she help you?" Liz asked, clearly trying to ignore what even the mention of Tess did to her. Max could see that it [I]still[/I] affected her, even after all this time.
Max wasn't sure if he really wanted to answer her. Because Tess had been one of the least logical of all of the problems he had had to deal with on his home planet. Tess's motivations were ones that still made little sense to him. And they would still hurt Liz.
But he had promised himself that he would tell her the whole truth if he ever got the chance. "Tess was married to Khivar, but she soon learned that she had absolutely no control over him." Max explained. He paused, searching for the right words. "I guess...She started to fantasize about what...well, what might have been..."
"If she had never betrayed you." Liz finished for him.
Max grimaced. "Right. I think she decided that if she could give me my son back, I would take her too. I think she thought that she could convince me to take back the throne, to give up the democracy, for Ben's sake. She knew that he was the way to control me. He always has been. From the very beginning." Max shook his head in disgust. He still did not understand how her mind had worked. Because, even now, he didn't think Tess had been evil. She had just been completely blind to anything but her own desires. She had even been willing to sacrifice her own son to achieve them.
"All she wanted was to be queen."
"Right." Max nodded. "It was what she was raised by Nasedo to want and she was never able to get past it. I think she did try, when she lived with the Valentis." Max added. "But when I started to have those memories of my past life on Antar, after the hostage-taking at the Museum, I guess it suddenly didn't seem so hopeless anymore. And it was around this time that she found out that she was pregnant anyway and she decided to use [I]that[/I] too."
There was a long silence as Liz absorbed this. "Which brings us back to what I really want to know." Liz finally said. "About Alex."
"Right. Alex." Max felt a pang of remorse as he reflected on what poor, innocent Alex had been subjected to, simply because he had been a part of their group - and because of his connection to Isabel. "I guess you've figured out that they were together while he was supposedly in Sweden?"
"I don't know anything Max." Liz replied. "All I know is that the Alex I knew would never have been with [I]Tess[/I], of all people."
"He didn't remember it as being Tess." Max told her. "He remembered her as Leanna. It was how Tess got close to him. He knew he had been with her, but he never knew it was really Tess. Just like he never knew that he was translating the book."
"Mindwarp." Liz breathed, as the realization hit her. "But how on Earth was she so strong that she was able to mindwarp Alex for that long? And if she was pregnant for [I]that[/I] long too, shouldn't she have been showing by the time she left in the granolith?"
"When I connected to the baby, when she first told me that it was dying, I envisioned an almost grown fetus." Max admitted, still feeling a little sheepish at how gullible he had been. If he and Tess had conceived Ben, the baby would have been little more than a tiny grain in her womb. And yet, he still had not questioned it, had simply accepted it. Because why would Tess lie? "She wasn't working alone either. Nicholas was helping her. He hid her condition from all of us."
"But why was Tess with Alex anyway?" Liz asked, clearly slowly pulling together all the threads of the deception that had resulted in the little boy still fast asleep in the backseat of the car. "I thought she was beginning to accept life in Roswell."
"In the end, she wasn't in control at all. Khivar was running the whole show. Alex seduced [I]her[/I]."
"WHAT???" Liz gasped. She lowered her tone when Ben actually stirred in the backseat. "That's impossible! Even if he thought she was Leanna....he would never! Not Alex!"
"No." Max agreed. "It wasn't him. The Leanna ruse wasn't enough. Just like Larek took over Brody's body..."
"Oh my God." Max glanced at Liz out of the corner of his eye. She had her hands up at her temples, was rubbing, hard. "Are you telling me that Khivar..."
"Yes. Khivar considers himself to be Ben's father." He closed his eyes, kept his voice at a flat monotone, as though it could somehow lessen the impact of what he was about to say. "Because he used Alex Whitman to make sure that he was born."
To be continued...
"How did you find out?" Liz asked quietly after they had drive close to fifty miles in silence. It was so sudden, it made Max jump slightly. She had not spoken a word since agreeing that she would accompany he and Ben to Marathon. Max had even wondered at one point if she had fallen asleep. Her eyes [I]were[/I] closed, it was past one A.M now after all, and it had been a long, emotionally draining day.
But Max should have known better. She had been thinking, forming questions in that razor sharp mind of hers, formalizing a plan of attack. And now it was time to face the music. He smiled slightly to himself, momentarily remembering another time when she had prepared herself for him in advance.
[I] "I need to know the truth Max. I need to know...everything. Or I'll - I'm just going to go to Valenti and tell him everything I know." [/I]
He had known even then that she would never do such a thing. He had trusted her with his secret because he had the utmost faith in her - it was only after the trip to Antar that he actually knew [I]why[/I] he had so trusted her, but that did not negate the fact that he had always believed in her above all others, from the first moment he had laid eyes on her when he was eight years old.
And now it was time to trust her again - with the horrible truth of what he had done while he had been away from her.
"How did I find out what?" He asked, although he knew exactly what she wanted to know.
Liz sighed softly. "About Ben? That he's Alex's son." Her tone demonstrated that she was trying to mask her impatience.
"I didn't know right away." Max admitted. "I only found out when Khivar bragged about it." He frowned slightly. "I had finally learned where he was keeping Ben hidden. The democratic rebellion was in full swing by this point. Ben was in extreme danger because he represented the future of the monarchy. If they had gotten their hands on him, they would have killed him, even though everyone thought he was [I]my[/I] son."
"But weren't you leading the rebellion?" Liz returned, logically. Unfortunately, very little of what had happened on Antar involved logic.
"Technically." Max shrugged. "I told you before. I didn't really care about the planet's future one way or the other. They knew it and knew that if Khivar could continue to use my son, he would. They wanted him dead. [I]I[/I] just wanted my son and I wanted to get things settled well enough that I wouldn't be needed there anymore...so that I could live my life out here. It annoyed them. They wanted me to stay around after they won, to help with the transition. It was another reason they wanted Ben dead. They thought that if they killed him, I'd have no reason to come back to Earth."
The Antarians had never understood that it was what he had wanted more than anything - to find his son and return to Earth - to return to Liz and his family and friends. They had not understood that he had never felt any attachment for Antar, even after returning there. Leaving Earth had only reinforced to Max that it was his home, at least in this life. Being on Antar, made it even clearer. He had longed for Earth, longed for all it represented to him - security, happiness, love. He swallowed, hard, remembering how that longing had sustained him. They had not understood anything about him in the end. Not his devotion to a child mothered by his traitorous bride, nor his love for his adopted planet.
It was why he had had to escape them in the end. Because they would have never let him leave. They needed Zan as the figurehead of the new government. What [I]he[/I] had needed had not mattered one iota to any of them. It was this one fact that had helped Max to understand what his previous life had been like, what it must have been like to constantly feel as though others were controlling your destiny, that others were making your life for you.
Zan had needed an escape from the trap into which he had been born. He had found it in the arms of a serving girl named Kadiya. Zan had not been strong enough in the end though. He had let them win.
Max had not allowed it.
"Anyway," Max continued, pushing those memories aside for the moment, "Larek got some information that Ben was being kept in a secure holding of Khivar's near Antar's northern pole." He paused. "He got the information from Tess."
Max saw Liz flinch out of the corner of his eye. "Why would she help you?" Liz asked, clearly trying to ignore what even the mention of Tess did to her. Max could see that it [I]still[/I] affected her, even after all this time.
Max wasn't sure if he really wanted to answer her. Because Tess had been one of the least logical of all of the problems he had had to deal with on his home planet. Tess's motivations were ones that still made little sense to him. And they would still hurt Liz.
But he had promised himself that he would tell her the whole truth if he ever got the chance. "Tess was married to Khivar, but she soon learned that she had absolutely no control over him." Max explained. He paused, searching for the right words. "I guess...She started to fantasize about what...well, what might have been..."
"If she had never betrayed you." Liz finished for him.
Max grimaced. "Right. I think she decided that if she could give me my son back, I would take her too. I think she thought that she could convince me to take back the throne, to give up the democracy, for Ben's sake. She knew that he was the way to control me. He always has been. From the very beginning." Max shook his head in disgust. He still did not understand how her mind had worked. Because, even now, he didn't think Tess had been evil. She had just been completely blind to anything but her own desires. She had even been willing to sacrifice her own son to achieve them.
"All she wanted was to be queen."
"Right." Max nodded. "It was what she was raised by Nasedo to want and she was never able to get past it. I think she did try, when she lived with the Valentis." Max added. "But when I started to have those memories of my past life on Antar, after the hostage-taking at the Museum, I guess it suddenly didn't seem so hopeless anymore. And it was around this time that she found out that she was pregnant anyway and she decided to use [I]that[/I] too."
There was a long silence as Liz absorbed this. "Which brings us back to what I really want to know." Liz finally said. "About Alex."
"Right. Alex." Max felt a pang of remorse as he reflected on what poor, innocent Alex had been subjected to, simply because he had been a part of their group - and because of his connection to Isabel. "I guess you've figured out that they were together while he was supposedly in Sweden?"
"I don't know anything Max." Liz replied. "All I know is that the Alex I knew would never have been with [I]Tess[/I], of all people."
"He didn't remember it as being Tess." Max told her. "He remembered her as Leanna. It was how Tess got close to him. He knew he had been with her, but he never knew it was really Tess. Just like he never knew that he was translating the book."
"Mindwarp." Liz breathed, as the realization hit her. "But how on Earth was she so strong that she was able to mindwarp Alex for that long? And if she was pregnant for [I]that[/I] long too, shouldn't she have been showing by the time she left in the granolith?"
"When I connected to the baby, when she first told me that it was dying, I envisioned an almost grown fetus." Max admitted, still feeling a little sheepish at how gullible he had been. If he and Tess had conceived Ben, the baby would have been little more than a tiny grain in her womb. And yet, he still had not questioned it, had simply accepted it. Because why would Tess lie? "She wasn't working alone either. Nicholas was helping her. He hid her condition from all of us."
"But why was Tess with Alex anyway?" Liz asked, clearly slowly pulling together all the threads of the deception that had resulted in the little boy still fast asleep in the backseat of the car. "I thought she was beginning to accept life in Roswell."
"In the end, she wasn't in control at all. Khivar was running the whole show. Alex seduced [I]her[/I]."
"WHAT???" Liz gasped. She lowered her tone when Ben actually stirred in the backseat. "That's impossible! Even if he thought she was Leanna....he would never! Not Alex!"
"No." Max agreed. "It wasn't him. The Leanna ruse wasn't enough. Just like Larek took over Brody's body..."
"Oh my God." Max glanced at Liz out of the corner of his eye. She had her hands up at her temples, was rubbing, hard. "Are you telling me that Khivar..."
"Yes. Khivar considers himself to be Ben's father." He closed his eyes, kept his voice at a flat monotone, as though it could somehow lessen the impact of what he was about to say. "Because he used Alex Whitman to make sure that he was born."
To be continued...