Sacrifice
A Sequel to Quietly into the Night
Conventional Couples
Rating: PG-13
Chapter Five
"Damn," Max swore. "It's not in here. I can't find anything in this stupid book that will tell us how to go back to Antar."
"Max, why don't you take a break," said Philip. "Have something to eat, take a walk, spend some time with your daughter. Do something. There is no way you're going to find what you're looking for right now. You've lost all sense of perspective. The answer could be staring you right in the face, and you wouldn't be able to see it."
"You're father's right Max. It's time to step back and let somebody else give it a try."
Max stood up, and rubbed his hands across his face. "You're right he admitted. It's just that," he stopped.
"We know," said Diane, hugging her son. "It's Liz. You'll find a way Max. All of you, working together will figure this thing out. Now why don't you come out to the kitchen and get something to eat. An empty stomach isn't helping things either."
Max leaned over and shut off his laptop, gave the destiny book one last glance and walked into the kitchen with his parents.
In the kitchen, Jim, Amy, Geoff and Nancy sat around the kitchen table. Max sat down in an empty chair next to his father-in-law and reached for the coffee that was steaming in the pot.
"Any luck?" asked Geoff softly. Max looked at him and shook his head.
"But I'll figure it out," he said. "I have to." "Where's Lexie," he said looking around the room.
"Oh her Uncle Michael and Auntie Isabelle took her for a walk," said Amy, smiling. "That little girl has so much energy in her. If we could figure out a way to tap into it, we could solve all the energy problems in the world."
Laughter filled the room when the back door flew open and the ball of energy in question came running into the room. "Daddy, Daddy!" she shouted. "Look at the pretty rock I found. It's gots sparkles in it. Maybe it's diamonds." Max scooped the little girl up in his lap and hugged her tightly. "Let's see it Lexie. Oh, you're right. It looks very valuable. Maybe we should find a special place to hide it."
"Why?" questioned the girl.
"Well, so you don't lose it, I guess," said Max.
"That's silly Daddy. I want to leave it here so everybody can see it. What good is havin' something pretty if you can't see it?"
"Lexie, you are a very smart little girl."
"Course I am Daddy. Grampy Geoff says I'm just like my Mommy! Can I go watch T.V. now?" she asked sliding down off his lap.
"Sure thing sweetie," said Max, watching Lexie scamper out of the room. "Well, that settles it," he said.
"Settles what?" asked Nancy, her eyes still following Lexie down the hall.
"I have to figure this out. Lexie deserves to see first hand just how much she is like her mother. Listen, I'm going to take a quick walk around the block to clear my head. Do you mind keeping an eye on Lexie?"
"Max, you have nine adults in this house, not counting yourself," said Jim. "One of them a law enforcement officer, one of them studying to be a doctor, six of them parents. I think you can safely take a walk and not worry about the safety of your daughter."
Laughter filled the room as Max stepped out the door into the back yard. Isabelle and Michael were sitting on Lexie's swing set.
"Hey," he said walking across the grassy yard."
"Hey yourself," said Isabelle.
"I'm going to take a walk, either of you care to join me?"
As one, Michael and Isabelle got of the swings and fell into step beside Max.
"Remember when it was just us," Max said as the walked around to the front of the house and out onto the sidewalk. "It was always such a struggle to keep our secret from everybody else. And how we swore we'd run if we had to, just the three of us."
"Yeah, well you blew that one for us Maxwell, the day you saved Liz," said Michael. "That was probably the smartest thing you ever did."
"Michael's right you know," said Isabelle. "Any time we tried to do something on our own, we screwed up, but when we started working together everything would come together. And it's going to this time Max. We'll find a way to get them home."
Maria woke up from her nap and checked on her sleeping baby. Little Beth had woken twice before wanting to eat, but now she was sleeping soundly. She didn't want to go downstairs yet and face the houseful of people that she knew were waiting below. Idly, she ran her fingers over the books on the shelf in Max's office. Her hand stopped when she came to the familiar binding of Liz's journal. Maybe it's time, she thought to herself, taking the book off the shelf. Moving back to the futon, she turned on a small lamp and opened the book. She paged through the entries, reliving their adventures as they made their way back to Roswell. She read with interest, the entries detailing Liz's pregnancy, and how she had found herself so in tune with Max. Turning the pages, Maria became more excited. She hadn't realized that Liz had brought the journal with her to Antar. In the journal, Liz had recorded her excitement when she found out she was carrying twins, and her fears because of all the unrest in the capitol city. Stuck in the journal, marking the last entry was a folded piece of paper. Maria opened it and began to read.
If you are reading this, it means Kyle and I weren't able to leave Antar. Please understand, I couldn't leave. Even as I write this letter, my labor with my second child grows stronger. The physicians said that if I were to try and make the journey, it would put the baby in jeopardy. I couldn't do that. I knew you could take Lexie back safely, where she would be protected. Her life was in danger here. The second baby will be safe. It's very confusing, but Michael knows the whole story, he can explain it. Please Max, don't blame Michael, he fought and fought with me to tell you everything, but I know you. I know you'd insist on staying, and then Lexie would grow up without any parents, and I couldn't bear for that to happen.
I'll find a way to contact you Max, somehow I will. I'm sure it can be done. Don't worry about us, Kyle is staying with us. He'll protect us. You know he can do it. He's turned into quite a soldier while we've been here. Max, please understand my decision. The safety of our children is what's important. I had no choice.
Love Liz
Maria wiped the tears from her eyes as she folded the letter and put it back in the journal. She stood up to take the journal downstairs to Max, and another piece of paper fell from her lap. She picked it up and opened it and found that it was written in Antarian. Grabbing it and the journal, she walked downstairs.
"Where's Max?" she asked as she walked into the kitchen.
"Right here, a voice said as the back door opened. Max, Isabelle and Michael walked in. Michael pushed past the others to go stand by his wife.
"What are you doing up? Shouldn't you be resting, you just had a baby you know."
"Yeah, I know, I was there. Listen, I found something upstairs. Max, remember how you told me I should have read Liz's journal before. Well, I couldn't then, but I did, now. There are some things in there you need to read. Did you know she took the journal with her to Antar?"
"Yeah, it was in the bag of things she sent back when we left. I never looked at it again, I couldn't. But I kept it for Lexie to read when she grew up."
"Well, maybe you should have read it Max. She told you about the other baby in there, and she left you a letter. It's really personal Max. I read it, I'm sorry, but I had to, and you need to read it now," she said passing the letter to Max.
Max took the letter from Maria and started to read it to himself, stopped and began to read it out loud. When he was done, the room was silent, and there were tears in everybody's eyes.
"I also found this," said Maria, passing him the other piece of paper. "I can't read it, it's in Antarian, but I figured you could translate it with all that stuff you have out there."
Max took the paper and looked at it. "Well, it's going to take some time, but I think we can figure it out," he said looking at the others. "Thank you Maria," he crossed the room and hugged his friend. "And Michael, thank you for trying to convince Liz to come back. I know you, and I know Liz. You weren't going to win that battle no matter how hard you fought." He turned to Jim and said, "I know you wanted Kyle to go into law enforcement. Like Liz said in her letter, he was turning into quite a soldier while we were on Antar, and he stayed that at a great risk to himself to protect Liz and our son. I can't think of anyone I'd want to be there with her." Jim smiled and ducked his head so that nobody could see the tears that were falling. Amy reached over and took his hand and squeezed it tightly.
The group moved into the family room where Lexie was watching television to continue their discussion.
"Max, I think I know why Liz is communicating with Lexie, and not you," said Maria. "I've only been a mother for a few hours, and I already know that I'd die to protect Beth. I can feel her, here in my heart. I bet you there is the same type of connection between Lexie and Liz."
"That makes sense, and wile you were napping, Lexie came downstairs and said that her brother was in her dream too. I bet Liz took a chance that there was a bond between Kam and Lexie as well and that they would be able to communicate."
"Wait though, what about Kyle contacting me? I mean, he's my best friend, but we don't have the same kind of bond that Lexie and Liz would have."
"Yeah, but Isabelle, Kyle is the only one of us who could establish a link that way. None of us can communicate nonverbally unless he started the link," said Michael. "You told us that you were the first person he ever did that with. Maybe there's a bond that way. Your brain is more in tune with his thought frequency or whatever than any of ours."
"That make sense," Isabelle said. "Maybe I should try dream walking him tonight or something, to see if I can contact him that way."
"Um Iz, if you do, could you tell him we're coming to Antar. Liz said the answers were in the book. I assumed it was in the destiny book, but the answers were in her journal. She gave us the instructions for coming back. They're right here."