What is the Truth?
By Didi
Disclaimers: Do I really need to do this? I mean how many of you would believe me if I did say that I owned them all?
Note: Starts just at the end of Season 2 but I'm writing it my way cause I simply refused to except the way the writer screwed up that storyline. So, here's my take on the end of the episode and what happens afterwards. Forget everything that was on UPN, it didn't happen.
Caution: I can handle creative criticism and all but please no flames of any sort. Oh and if you are a Max/Liz fanatic, I doubt you'll like this story much.
"Spoken," *thoughts*
~~~~~
"Come on, Alex," Isabel mumbled, her eyes trained at the couple sitting on the bed. "Ask her already."
"I think her need to breath outweighs his need to ask her about the healing stones," Valenti mumbled back dryly.
"And how are we to help her if we don't know how?" she replied, her eyes full of annoyance. Though she would never admit it out loud, she was just a little more than bothered to see the two together so comfortably. Tess was tiny and delicate, so in need of protection. So unlike Isabel with her regale pose and robust health. She knew better than most how men liked to play the knight. And from here, Tess looked just a little too perfect as the helpless princess.
"Yeah but how is she going to answer if she can't talk," Kyle pointed out.
"She could nod her head," Liz suggested quietly and then blushed as Maria stared at her in shock.
"Will you guys quiet down! They'll hear us," Michael hissed at them.
"They'll hear you before they hear us, Michael." Maria offered a tentative smile. "You whisper too loud."
He offered her a smile for her effort in keeping things light before turning to Max. Their leader was currently staring into the window, eyes glassy with some unseen thoughts lurking the in the recesses of his mind. "Maxwell?"
"She's growing weaker," he muttered softly. "I can see it even from here, all the light is going."
"What are you talking about?" Michael asked, his eyes frightened for a moment. When Max didn't answer, he reached over and shook him. "Yo, wake up!"
Max turned suddenly. "We need to do this fast. She's growing too weak."
"We can see that," Kyle pointed to the window. "The question now is what to do about it."
Max watched the window again for a moment. "Other than Michael, everyone else go back to the hotel. We don't need so many people here keeping an eye on things, too conspicuous. Sheriff Valenti, can you see about digging up some food?"
Jim Valenti eyed the boy for a moment, hoping he wasn't going to let his heart rule his head. But Michael would be there; he could keep Max's head the way Max could keep his. "Okay kids, let's go."
"Hey," Maria protested, not willing to leave yet. "Why does Max get to make the decisions? And why does he get to stay?"
Turning dark, intense eyes on her, Max replied, "Cause it's my wife and child in there."
The others stared, stunned at the reference even as Max turned back to stare through the window where Alex rocked Tess quietly as the pain subsided for the moment. It was the first time he had acknowledged his connection to the blonde stranger among them. Always before, he had denied the past, the one that he shared with her in a distance planet, in another life. Always, she had been the one to remind them of their alien past, their connection to another place and another duty, she had been the one that was on the outside of the circle. Now Max not only blurred the lines, he's got one foot over them.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Can I get you anything?" Alex whispered, his eyes on the drapes that he had insisted upon when they moved into the low-rent shack. The added a splash of color in the otherwise dismal place. Now he was doubly glad for them, cause they were currently distracting Tess from seeing the frequent heads that pop up and down the sill. *Why did I think they were going to keep away?*
"No," she replied hoarsely, her eyes already drooping with exhaustion. "I'm okay."
"Liar," he admonished gently, brushing back damp lock of hair from her brows. "Some water maybe?"
"Water sounds good," she smiled and opened one tired eye. "Thank you."
"Anytime," he grinned and shifted her back on the bed slowly, careful not to jar her. "How is the baby?"
Tess's tiny hands went to her abdomen. For a moment, her hands glowed gently before flickering out. Her face crumbled and she had to take a deep breath to calm herself. *This is for the best, baby. I know it is. We all have to make sacrifices for the greater good, and this is yours and mine.* She swallow the painfully hot tears. "We're going to be fine."
"We both know that's not true but..." he touched her face to gain her attention. "Can it be?"
Her eyes clouded for a moment. There was some urgency in his eyes, an almost desperation that she didn't quite understand. "What do you mean?"
"Tess, we've never really talked about it but..." he glanced over his shoulder, sensing the ears that were pressed to the wall. "But is there any way that the baby can survive on Earth? I know that you said that its biology is completely different and he needed an environment that Earth's atmosphere cannot provide but..."
"It wouldn't matter," Tess replied her eyes sad. "The baby and I are meant to die and..."
"You are not meant to die!" He stood and paced the tiny room in agitation. "You are choosing this path to walk on, so let's not pretend otherwise. You didn't have to turn the granilith around. You didn't have to return to await death. Your baby would have been fine if you had returned to Antar."
"And leave Max with no defense against Khivar? Let that despot raise my child?" Her blue eyes flashed with anger, alive for the first time in days. "NEVER!" She started at the sound of her own voice, as if not realizing that she had shouted the last word. "Alex, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."
He smiled at her. "Mother's instinct, that's what." He went to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. "Tess, can you change the baby so that he can breath the air here?"
"What?" her eyes went wide with disbelief. "Why would you think that..."
"I've seen the amazing things that you and Max and Isabel and Michael have done over the past 2 years." He shrugged his shoulder. "Some of it is like magic. Bringing Kyle and Liz back from the dead, that's... Why can't you do the same for your flesh and blood?"
Tess turned her face away, staring at the wall.
"Tess?"
"It's not the same." Her voice was filled with unbearable grief. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't." She turned to swallow the tears that came. *Damn it, girl. You are Nasado's child. You don't cry. You don't get to cry.* She took a deep halting breath. "I'm not strong enough and I don't have the healing stone that is needed to channel that energy to rearrange the baby's DNA."
"But if you did have the healing stone?" Alex's eyes were intent on the blonde curls, silently urging her for the answer to their prayers. "Then you could..."
"No, I couldn't," she turned to face him, wiping her eyes as she did. "I told you, I'm growing weak. And even at full strength, I wouldn't have the power to do it. You need a healer, a protector and someone to channel that energy through the stones."
Alex nodded his head slowly. "Max the healer, Michael the protector and Isabel the..." He frowned. "What is Isabel?"
She couldn't help herself. "The love of your life?"
He frowned at her and blushed, hoping that Isabel hadn't heard that. "Be serious here."
"I am," Tess nodded and shifted in bed. "And no, it doesn't necessarily have to be Isabel though the other two is correct. Max is the healer; his powers were always to fix the wrongs in the universe. Michael is the protector; the external force of his powers makes him ideal to safeguard the king. Isabel and I have introverted powers, which is why we have mind powers, her dream walking and my mind warps."
"The difference in sex?"
She shrugged. "Who knows why but that would appear to be the case won't it?" She smiled and reached out to touch this hand. "Hey, let's talk about something else?"
"Tess," he held her hand and asked seriously, "Would you do it if it was an option open to you?"
Glancing at the hands that held hers tightly, she looked up frightened as an unbelievable thought occurred to her. "Alex, tell me you didn't try to contact Max and the others."
"Tess..."
"Tell me you didn't call them," her eyes wide with fear.
Alex nodded his head. "I didn't call them."
For a moment, she tried to read his eyes for the truth. When she saw the clear untainted truth there, she fairly wilted with relief. "For a moment there I thought..." she laughed weakly. "Of course you wouldn't betray me." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I know I can trust you with my life."
He swallowed hard. *Please forgive me, Tess.* He forces his lips to smile for her. "Tess, I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you. I'm only trying to help."
"I know," she leaned back in bed and sighed. "I know that you care."
"And don't you forget it," picking up the dishes. "Tess, you didn't answer me."
Bright blue eyes turned to look at him with regret. "The option isn't open to me so it's not even something I want to contemplate, it hurts too much." She smiled at him with longing. "It's a nice dream though, to think they'd try to save me and my baby." She sighed and closed her eyes.
Thinking she was falling sleep, he turned to leave.
"Alex?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for the waffles."
"Any time."
~~~~~~~~~~
Max leaned against the wall, heart pounding with anticipation. Grabbing Michael's arm, he moved around the house stealthily. He forced open the front door without trouble and waited for Alex as he washed up the dishes in leisure.
Alex wiped his and sat down in the beanbag that acted as sofa, couch and overall decoration for the room. "Well? Did you hear?"
Michael made a face. "Yeah, we heard." He turned to Max. "When?"
"I'd like to do it tonight, but it won't be too safe to do so." He looked toward the door that was slightly ajar.
"Relax," Alex assured him with a save of his hand. "She usually sleeps like the dead after an attack. She won't be stirring for another hour or two."
Frowning, Michael moved to take a peek at the girl. She was a deathly pale face against white sheets surrounded by a halo of springy curls. "Do they come often?"
"More frequent now than before." Alex turned to Max. "Why don't tonight?"
"Energy gives off light, especially the healing stones when activated." Max explained even as he too moved to stare at the vision not obscured by fluttering curtains. "God, she looks so helpless."
"Yeah," Alex sighed and rubbed his eyes. "That's probably because she is. Max, she's getting weaker by the hour, I can feel it."
He nodded and motion for Michael to follow him. "We'll go back and get the stones and Isabel. You said that she'd sleep for some time, right? It'll be another hour before sunset. Maybe we can pull this off while she's sleeping."
"Yeah right," Michael shook his head in disbelief. "No way in hell she's going to sleep through it Maxwell. And once she wakes up, the first reaction is to toss the lot of us out on our ears, literally." He looked to Alex. "Tell me her mother's-instinct isn't going to blast us from here to kingdom come before she realizes what's going on."
"He's right," Alex pointed out and began to make himself a sandwich. "You're going to have to get her agreement to do it. Other wise, you're looking at a fight here."
Max nodded slowly, seeing the logic in it. "Okay, then maybe I need to have a talk with my wife."
TBC....
~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for all the great reviews and encouragement.
By Didi
Disclaimers: Do I really need to do this? I mean how many of you would believe me if I did say that I owned them all?
Note: Starts just at the end of Season 2 but I'm writing it my way cause I simply refused to except the way the writer screwed up that storyline. So, here's my take on the end of the episode and what happens afterwards. Forget everything that was on UPN, it didn't happen.
Caution: I can handle creative criticism and all but please no flames of any sort. Oh and if you are a Max/Liz fanatic, I doubt you'll like this story much.
"Spoken," *thoughts*
~~~~~
"Come on, Alex," Isabel mumbled, her eyes trained at the couple sitting on the bed. "Ask her already."
"I think her need to breath outweighs his need to ask her about the healing stones," Valenti mumbled back dryly.
"And how are we to help her if we don't know how?" she replied, her eyes full of annoyance. Though she would never admit it out loud, she was just a little more than bothered to see the two together so comfortably. Tess was tiny and delicate, so in need of protection. So unlike Isabel with her regale pose and robust health. She knew better than most how men liked to play the knight. And from here, Tess looked just a little too perfect as the helpless princess.
"Yeah but how is she going to answer if she can't talk," Kyle pointed out.
"She could nod her head," Liz suggested quietly and then blushed as Maria stared at her in shock.
"Will you guys quiet down! They'll hear us," Michael hissed at them.
"They'll hear you before they hear us, Michael." Maria offered a tentative smile. "You whisper too loud."
He offered her a smile for her effort in keeping things light before turning to Max. Their leader was currently staring into the window, eyes glassy with some unseen thoughts lurking the in the recesses of his mind. "Maxwell?"
"She's growing weaker," he muttered softly. "I can see it even from here, all the light is going."
"What are you talking about?" Michael asked, his eyes frightened for a moment. When Max didn't answer, he reached over and shook him. "Yo, wake up!"
Max turned suddenly. "We need to do this fast. She's growing too weak."
"We can see that," Kyle pointed to the window. "The question now is what to do about it."
Max watched the window again for a moment. "Other than Michael, everyone else go back to the hotel. We don't need so many people here keeping an eye on things, too conspicuous. Sheriff Valenti, can you see about digging up some food?"
Jim Valenti eyed the boy for a moment, hoping he wasn't going to let his heart rule his head. But Michael would be there; he could keep Max's head the way Max could keep his. "Okay kids, let's go."
"Hey," Maria protested, not willing to leave yet. "Why does Max get to make the decisions? And why does he get to stay?"
Turning dark, intense eyes on her, Max replied, "Cause it's my wife and child in there."
The others stared, stunned at the reference even as Max turned back to stare through the window where Alex rocked Tess quietly as the pain subsided for the moment. It was the first time he had acknowledged his connection to the blonde stranger among them. Always before, he had denied the past, the one that he shared with her in a distance planet, in another life. Always, she had been the one to remind them of their alien past, their connection to another place and another duty, she had been the one that was on the outside of the circle. Now Max not only blurred the lines, he's got one foot over them.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Can I get you anything?" Alex whispered, his eyes on the drapes that he had insisted upon when they moved into the low-rent shack. The added a splash of color in the otherwise dismal place. Now he was doubly glad for them, cause they were currently distracting Tess from seeing the frequent heads that pop up and down the sill. *Why did I think they were going to keep away?*
"No," she replied hoarsely, her eyes already drooping with exhaustion. "I'm okay."
"Liar," he admonished gently, brushing back damp lock of hair from her brows. "Some water maybe?"
"Water sounds good," she smiled and opened one tired eye. "Thank you."
"Anytime," he grinned and shifted her back on the bed slowly, careful not to jar her. "How is the baby?"
Tess's tiny hands went to her abdomen. For a moment, her hands glowed gently before flickering out. Her face crumbled and she had to take a deep breath to calm herself. *This is for the best, baby. I know it is. We all have to make sacrifices for the greater good, and this is yours and mine.* She swallow the painfully hot tears. "We're going to be fine."
"We both know that's not true but..." he touched her face to gain her attention. "Can it be?"
Her eyes clouded for a moment. There was some urgency in his eyes, an almost desperation that she didn't quite understand. "What do you mean?"
"Tess, we've never really talked about it but..." he glanced over his shoulder, sensing the ears that were pressed to the wall. "But is there any way that the baby can survive on Earth? I know that you said that its biology is completely different and he needed an environment that Earth's atmosphere cannot provide but..."
"It wouldn't matter," Tess replied her eyes sad. "The baby and I are meant to die and..."
"You are not meant to die!" He stood and paced the tiny room in agitation. "You are choosing this path to walk on, so let's not pretend otherwise. You didn't have to turn the granilith around. You didn't have to return to await death. Your baby would have been fine if you had returned to Antar."
"And leave Max with no defense against Khivar? Let that despot raise my child?" Her blue eyes flashed with anger, alive for the first time in days. "NEVER!" She started at the sound of her own voice, as if not realizing that she had shouted the last word. "Alex, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."
He smiled at her. "Mother's instinct, that's what." He went to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. "Tess, can you change the baby so that he can breath the air here?"
"What?" her eyes went wide with disbelief. "Why would you think that..."
"I've seen the amazing things that you and Max and Isabel and Michael have done over the past 2 years." He shrugged his shoulder. "Some of it is like magic. Bringing Kyle and Liz back from the dead, that's... Why can't you do the same for your flesh and blood?"
Tess turned her face away, staring at the wall.
"Tess?"
"It's not the same." Her voice was filled with unbearable grief. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't." She turned to swallow the tears that came. *Damn it, girl. You are Nasado's child. You don't cry. You don't get to cry.* She took a deep halting breath. "I'm not strong enough and I don't have the healing stone that is needed to channel that energy to rearrange the baby's DNA."
"But if you did have the healing stone?" Alex's eyes were intent on the blonde curls, silently urging her for the answer to their prayers. "Then you could..."
"No, I couldn't," she turned to face him, wiping her eyes as she did. "I told you, I'm growing weak. And even at full strength, I wouldn't have the power to do it. You need a healer, a protector and someone to channel that energy through the stones."
Alex nodded his head slowly. "Max the healer, Michael the protector and Isabel the..." He frowned. "What is Isabel?"
She couldn't help herself. "The love of your life?"
He frowned at her and blushed, hoping that Isabel hadn't heard that. "Be serious here."
"I am," Tess nodded and shifted in bed. "And no, it doesn't necessarily have to be Isabel though the other two is correct. Max is the healer; his powers were always to fix the wrongs in the universe. Michael is the protector; the external force of his powers makes him ideal to safeguard the king. Isabel and I have introverted powers, which is why we have mind powers, her dream walking and my mind warps."
"The difference in sex?"
She shrugged. "Who knows why but that would appear to be the case won't it?" She smiled and reached out to touch this hand. "Hey, let's talk about something else?"
"Tess," he held her hand and asked seriously, "Would you do it if it was an option open to you?"
Glancing at the hands that held hers tightly, she looked up frightened as an unbelievable thought occurred to her. "Alex, tell me you didn't try to contact Max and the others."
"Tess..."
"Tell me you didn't call them," her eyes wide with fear.
Alex nodded his head. "I didn't call them."
For a moment, she tried to read his eyes for the truth. When she saw the clear untainted truth there, she fairly wilted with relief. "For a moment there I thought..." she laughed weakly. "Of course you wouldn't betray me." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I know I can trust you with my life."
He swallowed hard. *Please forgive me, Tess.* He forces his lips to smile for her. "Tess, I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you. I'm only trying to help."
"I know," she leaned back in bed and sighed. "I know that you care."
"And don't you forget it," picking up the dishes. "Tess, you didn't answer me."
Bright blue eyes turned to look at him with regret. "The option isn't open to me so it's not even something I want to contemplate, it hurts too much." She smiled at him with longing. "It's a nice dream though, to think they'd try to save me and my baby." She sighed and closed her eyes.
Thinking she was falling sleep, he turned to leave.
"Alex?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for the waffles."
"Any time."
~~~~~~~~~~
Max leaned against the wall, heart pounding with anticipation. Grabbing Michael's arm, he moved around the house stealthily. He forced open the front door without trouble and waited for Alex as he washed up the dishes in leisure.
Alex wiped his and sat down in the beanbag that acted as sofa, couch and overall decoration for the room. "Well? Did you hear?"
Michael made a face. "Yeah, we heard." He turned to Max. "When?"
"I'd like to do it tonight, but it won't be too safe to do so." He looked toward the door that was slightly ajar.
"Relax," Alex assured him with a save of his hand. "She usually sleeps like the dead after an attack. She won't be stirring for another hour or two."
Frowning, Michael moved to take a peek at the girl. She was a deathly pale face against white sheets surrounded by a halo of springy curls. "Do they come often?"
"More frequent now than before." Alex turned to Max. "Why don't tonight?"
"Energy gives off light, especially the healing stones when activated." Max explained even as he too moved to stare at the vision not obscured by fluttering curtains. "God, she looks so helpless."
"Yeah," Alex sighed and rubbed his eyes. "That's probably because she is. Max, she's getting weaker by the hour, I can feel it."
He nodded and motion for Michael to follow him. "We'll go back and get the stones and Isabel. You said that she'd sleep for some time, right? It'll be another hour before sunset. Maybe we can pull this off while she's sleeping."
"Yeah right," Michael shook his head in disbelief. "No way in hell she's going to sleep through it Maxwell. And once she wakes up, the first reaction is to toss the lot of us out on our ears, literally." He looked to Alex. "Tell me her mother's-instinct isn't going to blast us from here to kingdom come before she realizes what's going on."
"He's right," Alex pointed out and began to make himself a sandwich. "You're going to have to get her agreement to do it. Other wise, you're looking at a fight here."
Max nodded slowly, seeing the logic in it. "Okay, then maybe I need to have a talk with my wife."
TBC....
~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for all the great reviews and encouragement.