Liz sat restlessly in the aisle
seat. Her dark hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and she
wore glasses that had a slight blue tint, casting a small
modification to her appearance. In actuality, her appearance
hadn't been altered much at all, but she believed it would be
enough to fool anyone on the off chance that their pictures had
circulated as far as the group had traveled. Though the FBI had
broken countless laws and blown off tight privacy, it was doubted
that they had given information too far away from New Mexico. For
as careless as this special alien-chasing unit had been, they did
not want to ignite rumors and unneeded fears of the intergalactic
kind. Liz knew they had at least that working in their favor. She
wasn't as concerned about getting to Roswell without being
detected as she was about getting into Roswell.
They had been in the air for sixty-two minutes. Three more hours
and they would arrive in New Mexico. The immediate danger that
presented itself at home obligated everyone to take the risk of
flying home. Their van sat idly in the motel parking lot, marking
the furthest spot they had journeyed to since fleeing nine weeks
earlier.
Liz stared down at her hands on her lap. Two rows back sat River
Dog. Max occupied the seat beside her. Hundreds of miles in front
of them was the rest of the group, on a different plane.
The plan was simple enough. The gang would split up. Liz and Max
would fly to New Mexico with River Dog. Michael and Maria, Isabel
and Kyle would take a different flight, arriving separately. The
two groups would reunite in the one of the old mines a few miles
outside of Roswell and wait for River Dog to find Valenti. Yes,
the plan was simple just not complete. No one knew what to
do after they met up.
Liz glanced over to Max, who was staring out the window,
seemingly off in his own troubled world. She rubbed his arm,
gaining his attention, and he smiled briefly for her.
"Are you all right?" she whispered.
He nodded his head weakly as he leaned his forehead against hers.
Liz wanted to ask if him if he was lying. She wanted to know what
they were going to do once they got to the mines. And she wanted
to know what was going to happen in the end. How everything would
wind up working out this time, when it mattered the most. But she
didn't ask. She only pushed her face against his and closed her
eyes.
"We shouldn't all be going back. It's too dangerous,"
he whispered, his eyes too closed. His hand tracing along her
cheek. He could feel Liz's slight shake of her head, disagreeing.
"No. No, we talked about this already, Max. Everyone's
involved with this, and it's safer to just stay together."
"This isn't ever going to end, is it?"
"Don't say that."
Max opened his eyes, an admiring grin on his tired face. "I
love you. Your faith is it's everything."
"It's easier to believe in something when you don't already
think you've failed, Max."
"Yeah?" he smirked, grateful for the relief his wife's
optimism and the shreds of hope it instilled inside of him.
"Yeah. So stop pulling a Michael on me. If we would have to
help him like we did in the cave again, and I knew about the
risks River Dog told us about last night I'd do it again.
All of us would. You know it, Max. It's like we're all family
now."
"I'd do anything for Michael and Isabel. Anything for Maria.
For you, Liz. The people I love."
Liz smiled warmly. "So you do understand. How it is for
Maria and me? And Kyle. How we're involved. How we'd do anything
for you. We have each other without any division anymore.
Isn't it better that way?"
"It is," he quietly admitted.
"Then don't blame yourselves for what's happening to me and
Maria. Saving Michael might have changed me physically. But I
knew I was different long before that. I knew I'd never be the
same once you healed me. It's all been for the better."
Her voice was warm and pleading. Beautiful and . and right.
Liz always seemed to paint the picture of truth -- always seemed
to be able to make him see what was right in front of him.
"You're right," he uttered, pulling away and leaning
back into his seat. He reached out and grasped her slender hand,
bringing it down between them. "I just wish convincing
Michael would be as easy."
"I think he'll come around," Liz offered as she
burrowed herself into Max's side. She knew Michael would come
around. She only wondered if it would be too late, as images of
her premonition flashed in her mind.
***
"So is your brother holding out on us with some hokey plan for when we get there?" Kyle asked, stepping out of the cab behind Isabel. "Sure he does. He's Max. He always has a plan. Right? ...Please tell me I'm right, Isabel."
"I don't know, Kyle." She answered, unwilling to give him the comfort she knew he sought, even if his attempt was lighthearted. Turning around, she watched Michael get out of the taxi, paying the driver for bringing them to the edge of town. He clutched onto Maria's hand, leading her off to the side. He whispered something in her ear, and the two embraced with closed eyes and a hint of comfort tinged across their faces. Isabel glanced away, conflicted. Happiness, because her brothers had their someone. Pain, because she didn't. Just to feel that comfort when Jesse used to hug her. Just to have that feeling back for an instant was worth everything. Strangely, when she wrapped her arms around herself, protecting against the sudden shiver coursing throughout her body, she thought of only one person, and it wasn't her husband. It was Alex. Apprehensively, she shook the feeling away.
Michael stepped up, his arm draped over Maria's shoulders. "You all right, Iz?"
She looked up, startled. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go. We have two miles to walk in the dark." She spun around and rejoined Kyle.
The four walked in silence, their footsteps eaten by the soft sands of the desert. Streams of monlight drifted around them, its light combining with the stars to give off the softest of lights -- too soft to be useful in guiding them as easily through the blackness as preferred. And as they agreed not to use powers to light the way, the darkness hid them perfectly protecting all four as they journeyed to the mines on the outskirts of Roswell.
"Honestly. I didn't think we'd be returning so soon," Kyle said quietly.
"Are you glad to be back?" Isabel asked sincerely, remembering the poignant exchange he had shared with his father as they waited in the van the night they left Roswell.
"Not for what brought us back. No." Kyle rubbed the back of his neck. "But I do miss my dad."
"After all this is over, however it turns out ... if we have to run again, I'd understand if you stayed away this time. Now that we know you aren't going to have any alien changes occur in the distant future."
"Yeah, isn't that a bummer. To tell you the truth, I was kind of looking forward to getting my own set of kick-ass super powers. Maybe someday, huh?"
"Yeah, someday...."
" But what makes you think I wouldn't go with you again?"
"There's no reason to now, Kyle."
"And there's no reason for me to stay in Roswell either. Come on, Isabel. Gunfire. Dramatic chases. Supernatural powers. Touring the country. Who could pass up such excitment?"
Isabel's lips curved into a slight smile, grateful for Kyle's upbeat nature. For a moment, he had made her forget that her father was somewhere out there, in trouble. Made her forget that her husband was thousands of miles away, trying to move on without her.... Made her forget that the guy who had finally gotten her to come around to the love he openly offered was forever gone.... But only for a moment could she forget. A sniffle escaped into the air.
"My dad's gonna find your father. We'll get everyone back."
Isabel nodded, though he couldn't see it in the darkness. "I know," she answered. "I know." And she believed they would, because she had to. She knew she couldn't bear to lose anyone else.
Maria and Michael followed Isabel and Kyle, several paces behind. "Are you all right?" Michael asked Maria.
"Yes, Michael. Stop asking already. I think you've asked it enough tonight to make up for three years of never asking," she muttered lightheartedly, squeezing her arm even tighter around his waist. His body heat warmed her skin through their clothing, and his powerful arm resting ontop her shoulders stunningly pumped solace through her veins. With Michael by her side, things would always be enough for her. Alone, she was Maria DeLuca - crazy and unique, but not complete. Alone, he was Michael Guerin - a passionate stonewall, blocking desperately needed relief from his life. But together. Yes, together was what made Maria smile inwardly. Together, they were feisty and dizzied love. Together, they made up something otherwordly.
She felt him take shorter strides, slowing their pace to give distance between them and Kyle and Isabel. "Listen, Maria. I want to talk to you about something."
"This can't be good." She felt her current state of contentment sober into flatout dread, and for what might have been the first time ever, she wished that Michael didn't want to talk.
"When we get back and when your mom and the others are all out safe, I was thinking, that maybe you and your mom could, uh, take a road trip. You know, disappear for a while."
Maria stopped abruptly, causing Michael to jerk backward, his arm still wrapped around her. "What did you just ask me to do?" Michael couldn't see it, but she knew Maria was glaring at him.
"It'd just be safer."
"Apparently you didn't hear me the first seventy-three times. I don't care about that, Michael. I'm staying with you."
"You're not hearing me out," he muttered, beginning to walk again. Maria continued beside him.
"I hear you crystal clear, space boy," she said matter-of-factly, trying too hard not to let him and his fears invade her newfound determination. She heard him open his mouth to contradict her once again, but she stopped dead in her tracks once more, this time grabbing onto Michael's arms and spinning him around to face her.
He watched her stoic face with the miniscule moonbeams floating against her skin. She was pale and mysterious. She was something he would never stop wanting. Someone he would never stop loving. Her hair was down around her shoulders, and a few strands blew in front of her face with the stray breeze drifting through the desert.
She spoke, and the words carried a serious tone - more serious than he had ever heard come from Maria. "I'm a part of something important, here, Michael. I'm a part of you. Before you, I had no sense of purpose in my life, all right? Before you, I was the funloving friend of Liz Parker. We had a plan. She was going to be a famous scientist. I was going to be her whacky best friend. Tagging along without ... without purpose.... You give me purpose, Michael. Meaning. I swear. Don't ask me to give you up." Her eyes seemed frozen in a final plea for him to believe her. Like she somehow subconsciously knew just how far he'd go to save her from pain. But it was true. He would go to the ends of the earth and leave all that is living for her. As if he could even breath again if she were ever harmed.
Her voice was a mere whisper now. "I'm with you ... till the end, Michael Guerin." She spun on her heels just then, jogging to catch up to Isabel.
He could only watch.
She made his chest tight and his self-control unattainable. That radiant creature, Maria DeLuca -- standing five foot four inches, with mesmerizing beauty and enough power to make his insides melt with a single fleeting glance his way. He went over her in his mind. How she loves to watch lightning in the sky; How she likes dark flowers and true romance, but settles for whatever he struggles to come up with. She will sing all the time, and dance with or without music. Stubborn and so sweet to him at the same time, she spills over with a mixture of bittersweet tinted joy. The greenish shades of her eyes seem to merge like the colors of a storm brewing. That's how he saw her, and he knew he could go on and on.
Three years ago, Michael had done what he had unceasingly dreamed of as well as what he had been scared to death of. He had fallen in love -- the truest love there was. He shuddered as he also realized it could all be taken away in less than a second. Catching his breath from this startling revelation, he returned to the others -- returned to part of his family. Yeah, he was something out of this world only with Maria. Together, they were something special, beautiful. Something intoxicating ... but not invincible.
And soon, they would be at the mine; they would a little closer to the permanent safety of the ones he loved. A little closer to putting the steps into action. The time was all but upon them.
To Be Continued...
