Chapter 8:
"Max? What do you think is wrong with him?"
"God, Isabel I have no idea. I've never seen anything like this before. We've never gotten sick. I mean, once, when Michael and I got drunk, but that passed. This is serious."
"Is he going to die? Are WE going to die?"
"WHAT!? No... no of course we're not going to die."
"What about Maria? She saw him like this. She might know something. She might tell. She might tell Liz." Max looked down at Michael's pained, sweating face. He kept his face low and Isabel looked at him in disbelief.
"Oh my God. You told her."
"I had to."
"YOU HAD TO!? You had to WHAT Max? Break a promise? Put us in danger?!"
"SHE WON'T TELL!?"
"How do you know!?"
"I trust her!"
"NO! NO MAX! We trust no one but ourselves... we never have and we never will. How could you?"
"She's a doctor Isabel... maybe she can help him."
"You didn't do it for him! You could care less about Michael! You did it for yourself! And don't lie and try to say it's not true!"
"FINE! You wanna know the truth? I LOVE HER. I love her, Isabel." He looked into his sister's watery eyes and felt the load lift. It was out. He said it. Now, he just needed to get Elizabeth to believe it.
"Don't worry yourself too much about it Isabel. She may never speak to me again. She thinks I'm lying to her. Not that I blame her. The I'm an alien story never worked for anyone else." He gathered his strength and headed back to Michael's bedside as he tried to find the cause. Slowly he passed his hand up and down his body making Michael levitate.
"Max..."
"You know what? Don't worry about this Isabel. Go to work. I've got it under control." Isabel gathered her purse and jacket and headed out the door, looking back at her brother.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It was so scary Liz. You don't understand. He was a MESS!"
"I don't understand?! If there is ANYONE who understands it's me!"
"I'm sorry. I know this must be tough on you. Max just didn't seem like the kind of guy who'd lie like that. I don't understand."
"He loves you." Elizabeth looked up at Alex, an angry frustration in her eyes. He looked up from his palm pilot as Maria threw him his guitar.
"Why don't you practice and shut up!" Her angry whisper made Elizabeth even more angry. She didn't need their pity.
"I DON'T practice anymore. That was a high school thing."
"Why would you say he loves me?" She sat down, her mind and heart finally defeated.
"I've never seen anyone look at you that way before. It was intense... and it really was just... difficult to explain." Maria sat down, obviously tired of arguing herself.
"I just... I love him, you know? And I can't understand why? I only just met him a couple of days ago. But his touch seems so... right. Like I've been waiting for him my whole life." She looked at her friends who were staring at her in disbelief.
"I know. I know it sounds irrational and probably even stupid. But it hurts. It just really hurts." She felt Alex's arm around her and his soft whisper against her hair.
"It's not irrational. It's not even stupid. Quite the contrary, to hear those romantic words coming from you is just... strange. You've always been so scared of love."
"Well, Alex what is she going to do? I mean, Michael is like convulsing in weird sickness and Max is telling her he's an alien from 1947? Something is wrong with someone and someone is lying or something or someone or.... I'm confused!" Maria looked over and Elizabeth laughed.
"I guess it's just my luck. I meet the man of my dreams and he's insane." The five minute silence ends with Maria leaning against Alex and rubbing her head.
"What if he's telling the truth?"
"WHAT?" Elizabeth pushed herself away from him as she saw Maria hit him upside the head.
"Ouch! I'm serious. I mean, who are we to assume there's no other life forms out there? Or to say that maybe he's got a reason for saying he's an alien. Or maybe the government DID lie to us all these years. Liz, how are you ever going to know unless you take a chance. You were mentioning... visions. Feelings like that, they're had to replace. You may never forgive yourself if you don't try this out." She sat in silence, thinking over Alex's words. She didn't want to give up on this. This feeling was something that was inexplicable.
"I'm scared it just might be too late."
"Too late?"
"He's leaving for Washington tomorrow."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Dammit! GET ME HUNTER GREEN! IS THAT SO COMPLICATED!" Isabel hung up the phone and rubbed her head. She was getting a really bad headache.
"Knock, knock." She looked up at the door and held her hands in fists. She was there alone. Had been all night. She'd called to check up on Max several times and found out that Michael was finally awake, but quite incoherent. They needed a doctor... and as much as she hated to admit it, she felt there was only one choice.
"Alex?" She rubbed her tired eyes and looked up at the tall man with a pair of jeans and two cups of coffee.
"I figured I'd say hello. I was in the neighborhood and you had told me you worked here. Hope you don't mind. I brought you some coffee." He smiled at her, his smile so much like that of an adorable teenage boy. At this hour, even she couldn't help but smile back.
"Mind? Please, I don't turn down free coffee." She took the cup and excused herself as she finished her phone conversation.
"So HUNTER green. Please have the samples for me by noon today or I will take my business elsewhere." She hung up the phone and saw Alex leave the room and return with a big black case.
"I've never seen you dressed casually."
"You've only met me once."
"That's true. Good point."
"But you're right. I'm usually dressed up."
"I feel like I've known you for so much longer." Isabel whispered and took a sip of her hot coffee before she realized it was missing an incredible amount of sugar and hot sauce.
"That bad huh?" Alex laughed as he passed her several packs of sugar.
"So tell me, why are you really here?" She looked up from her desk and he pulled out his guitar, which had been in the black case and began to strum some chords.
"Looks like you spent the night."
"Yea, I had a long day yesterday. I didn't know you were a musician."
"I'm not. I'm a computer engineer. But I like to play my guitar. I use to be in a band with Maria... but our egos got to big and to preserve our friendship, we ditched the effort all together." He began to play an actual song and she looked up at him, a different expression in her eyes.
"That's beautiful."
"I'd been working on it for a while, but never had the inspiration to finish it. Until I met you..."
"Alex."
"Maria wrote some beautiful lyrics. I combined it last night and it immediately reminded me of you. The way you walk, the way you move, the way you look into my eyes. The fear, the insecurity, the innocence. It's quite breathtaking." He set down his guitar and looked up into her suspicious eyes.
"This is about Michael isn't it?"
"Well, you tell me. I'm worried about him just as much as you are."
"Why would you care? You barely know him."
"I care because Liz cares. And I love Liz enough to care about anyone she cares for. Which of course brings me to my next point. Max and Liz." She looked up at the sound of her brother's name with Elizabeth's. As strange as it was, it sounded right. It sounded the way nothing else had when related to her brother. Unmistakably perfect. It gave her shivers down her spine to even think about it. Fate was not that kind to anyone. SHE knew.
"Last I heard, Elizabeth wanted nothing to do with my brother."
"Yea, well I wouldn't blame her. She falls in love with a man and he tells her he's an alien from the Roswell crash of 1947. It made me wonder too when she told me. But then I thought it over. I thought it over long and hard and I came to a conclusion. There is no doubt in my mind that Max loves her with his entire being. It was fate that brought them together that night at the hospital. Were it not for Max, she'd be dead. They've known each other for about a week tops. But in that week I've seen Liz's eyes sparkle in a way I thought was impossible. She was always a dreamer. A believer in true love. Until she started dating some stupid doctor at her job and he broke her heart when he cheated on her. So since then, she's barely stepped back into the dating scene. But Max just waltzed into her life and swept her off her feet on his little white horse. And I couldn't understand why he would break her so suddenly. Then it all made sense." He looked deeply into her dark brown eyes as she nervously twirled the loose strands of hair falling on her face. Her eyes held all the answers. He had felt it. Even as he had when he first met them. It was a strange connection between the six of them that was so strong it was undeniable.
"What made sense?" Her voice was suddenly dry and she cursed herself for sounding so weak.
"There was only one answer. He must have been telling the truth. Because why would he lie to the woman he loved most in the world. Why when he's gone completely out of his way to expose himself? To give up all he's worked his whole life hiding?"
"How do you know this?" Isabel finally gathered her energy together and tried to control her emotions. But the fear lurked.
"Because I do. And because I saw you in my dreams last night. It wasn't just that I was dreaming of you... but I was dreaming WITH you. And I remember waking up feeling like my head was throbbing. You were checking me out. Seeing how much I knew. Isabel... I'm not going to lie. This is weird. And besides it freaking me out... it really makes me question my place in life. But I have ONE thing on my mind right now. And that's Liz's future and happiness. Now I came here because I trust you and you are the only person who can help me. I don't want Liz to go through life wishing she had taken that chance. I just want her to be happy." She looked down and found he was holding her hand softly across her desk. He was leaning forward passionately fighting Elizabeth's case. His love and loyalty almost brought her to tears.
"She's got a great friend on her hands." Isabel smiled weakly, her mind defeated. This man had basically read her life story in minutes. And the thing she feared the most was no longer so scary. He didn't run and hide or cower in disgust. On the contrary, he held her hand for dear life.
"I'd like to be YOUR friend... if you'd let me." She nodded her head and sighed loudly.
"Max is miserable without her. He was moping and fighting and could barely concentrate on helping Michael. We each have these special 'gifts', I guess you could call them. I, as you know, can walk into people's dreams. Michael has been known to be slightly telekenetic and likes to blow things up. It's more a personality trait. Max has always been less prone to use ANY of his powers. Being under constant surveillance by the FBI, he tried to keep his body as normal as possible. We fear that using our powers might change something in us."
"Make you less human." She nodded and he sat back, finally understanding a bit more about the mystery of the three people who had catapaulted into his life.
"The thing is... we've never gotten seriously ill before. We barely visit hospitals and if we get bruised badly, Max is usually there to heal us. But what Michael has is... new. And I'm scared to death Alex. We don't know what our life span is. We don't even know how similar we are to you. All we know is that we LOOK human. And we bleed and we breathe the way you do. But it's getting to the point that we can't help him alone. We need professional help or he may die."
"I think I'm getting an idea."
"Well, you better think quick. Max leaves tonight."
"Max? What do you think is wrong with him?"
"God, Isabel I have no idea. I've never seen anything like this before. We've never gotten sick. I mean, once, when Michael and I got drunk, but that passed. This is serious."
"Is he going to die? Are WE going to die?"
"WHAT!? No... no of course we're not going to die."
"What about Maria? She saw him like this. She might know something. She might tell. She might tell Liz." Max looked down at Michael's pained, sweating face. He kept his face low and Isabel looked at him in disbelief.
"Oh my God. You told her."
"I had to."
"YOU HAD TO!? You had to WHAT Max? Break a promise? Put us in danger?!"
"SHE WON'T TELL!?"
"How do you know!?"
"I trust her!"
"NO! NO MAX! We trust no one but ourselves... we never have and we never will. How could you?"
"She's a doctor Isabel... maybe she can help him."
"You didn't do it for him! You could care less about Michael! You did it for yourself! And don't lie and try to say it's not true!"
"FINE! You wanna know the truth? I LOVE HER. I love her, Isabel." He looked into his sister's watery eyes and felt the load lift. It was out. He said it. Now, he just needed to get Elizabeth to believe it.
"Don't worry yourself too much about it Isabel. She may never speak to me again. She thinks I'm lying to her. Not that I blame her. The I'm an alien story never worked for anyone else." He gathered his strength and headed back to Michael's bedside as he tried to find the cause. Slowly he passed his hand up and down his body making Michael levitate.
"Max..."
"You know what? Don't worry about this Isabel. Go to work. I've got it under control." Isabel gathered her purse and jacket and headed out the door, looking back at her brother.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It was so scary Liz. You don't understand. He was a MESS!"
"I don't understand?! If there is ANYONE who understands it's me!"
"I'm sorry. I know this must be tough on you. Max just didn't seem like the kind of guy who'd lie like that. I don't understand."
"He loves you." Elizabeth looked up at Alex, an angry frustration in her eyes. He looked up from his palm pilot as Maria threw him his guitar.
"Why don't you practice and shut up!" Her angry whisper made Elizabeth even more angry. She didn't need their pity.
"I DON'T practice anymore. That was a high school thing."
"Why would you say he loves me?" She sat down, her mind and heart finally defeated.
"I've never seen anyone look at you that way before. It was intense... and it really was just... difficult to explain." Maria sat down, obviously tired of arguing herself.
"I just... I love him, you know? And I can't understand why? I only just met him a couple of days ago. But his touch seems so... right. Like I've been waiting for him my whole life." She looked at her friends who were staring at her in disbelief.
"I know. I know it sounds irrational and probably even stupid. But it hurts. It just really hurts." She felt Alex's arm around her and his soft whisper against her hair.
"It's not irrational. It's not even stupid. Quite the contrary, to hear those romantic words coming from you is just... strange. You've always been so scared of love."
"Well, Alex what is she going to do? I mean, Michael is like convulsing in weird sickness and Max is telling her he's an alien from 1947? Something is wrong with someone and someone is lying or something or someone or.... I'm confused!" Maria looked over and Elizabeth laughed.
"I guess it's just my luck. I meet the man of my dreams and he's insane." The five minute silence ends with Maria leaning against Alex and rubbing her head.
"What if he's telling the truth?"
"WHAT?" Elizabeth pushed herself away from him as she saw Maria hit him upside the head.
"Ouch! I'm serious. I mean, who are we to assume there's no other life forms out there? Or to say that maybe he's got a reason for saying he's an alien. Or maybe the government DID lie to us all these years. Liz, how are you ever going to know unless you take a chance. You were mentioning... visions. Feelings like that, they're had to replace. You may never forgive yourself if you don't try this out." She sat in silence, thinking over Alex's words. She didn't want to give up on this. This feeling was something that was inexplicable.
"I'm scared it just might be too late."
"Too late?"
"He's leaving for Washington tomorrow."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Dammit! GET ME HUNTER GREEN! IS THAT SO COMPLICATED!" Isabel hung up the phone and rubbed her head. She was getting a really bad headache.
"Knock, knock." She looked up at the door and held her hands in fists. She was there alone. Had been all night. She'd called to check up on Max several times and found out that Michael was finally awake, but quite incoherent. They needed a doctor... and as much as she hated to admit it, she felt there was only one choice.
"Alex?" She rubbed her tired eyes and looked up at the tall man with a pair of jeans and two cups of coffee.
"I figured I'd say hello. I was in the neighborhood and you had told me you worked here. Hope you don't mind. I brought you some coffee." He smiled at her, his smile so much like that of an adorable teenage boy. At this hour, even she couldn't help but smile back.
"Mind? Please, I don't turn down free coffee." She took the cup and excused herself as she finished her phone conversation.
"So HUNTER green. Please have the samples for me by noon today or I will take my business elsewhere." She hung up the phone and saw Alex leave the room and return with a big black case.
"I've never seen you dressed casually."
"You've only met me once."
"That's true. Good point."
"But you're right. I'm usually dressed up."
"I feel like I've known you for so much longer." Isabel whispered and took a sip of her hot coffee before she realized it was missing an incredible amount of sugar and hot sauce.
"That bad huh?" Alex laughed as he passed her several packs of sugar.
"So tell me, why are you really here?" She looked up from her desk and he pulled out his guitar, which had been in the black case and began to strum some chords.
"Looks like you spent the night."
"Yea, I had a long day yesterday. I didn't know you were a musician."
"I'm not. I'm a computer engineer. But I like to play my guitar. I use to be in a band with Maria... but our egos got to big and to preserve our friendship, we ditched the effort all together." He began to play an actual song and she looked up at him, a different expression in her eyes.
"That's beautiful."
"I'd been working on it for a while, but never had the inspiration to finish it. Until I met you..."
"Alex."
"Maria wrote some beautiful lyrics. I combined it last night and it immediately reminded me of you. The way you walk, the way you move, the way you look into my eyes. The fear, the insecurity, the innocence. It's quite breathtaking." He set down his guitar and looked up into her suspicious eyes.
"This is about Michael isn't it?"
"Well, you tell me. I'm worried about him just as much as you are."
"Why would you care? You barely know him."
"I care because Liz cares. And I love Liz enough to care about anyone she cares for. Which of course brings me to my next point. Max and Liz." She looked up at the sound of her brother's name with Elizabeth's. As strange as it was, it sounded right. It sounded the way nothing else had when related to her brother. Unmistakably perfect. It gave her shivers down her spine to even think about it. Fate was not that kind to anyone. SHE knew.
"Last I heard, Elizabeth wanted nothing to do with my brother."
"Yea, well I wouldn't blame her. She falls in love with a man and he tells her he's an alien from the Roswell crash of 1947. It made me wonder too when she told me. But then I thought it over. I thought it over long and hard and I came to a conclusion. There is no doubt in my mind that Max loves her with his entire being. It was fate that brought them together that night at the hospital. Were it not for Max, she'd be dead. They've known each other for about a week tops. But in that week I've seen Liz's eyes sparkle in a way I thought was impossible. She was always a dreamer. A believer in true love. Until she started dating some stupid doctor at her job and he broke her heart when he cheated on her. So since then, she's barely stepped back into the dating scene. But Max just waltzed into her life and swept her off her feet on his little white horse. And I couldn't understand why he would break her so suddenly. Then it all made sense." He looked deeply into her dark brown eyes as she nervously twirled the loose strands of hair falling on her face. Her eyes held all the answers. He had felt it. Even as he had when he first met them. It was a strange connection between the six of them that was so strong it was undeniable.
"What made sense?" Her voice was suddenly dry and she cursed herself for sounding so weak.
"There was only one answer. He must have been telling the truth. Because why would he lie to the woman he loved most in the world. Why when he's gone completely out of his way to expose himself? To give up all he's worked his whole life hiding?"
"How do you know this?" Isabel finally gathered her energy together and tried to control her emotions. But the fear lurked.
"Because I do. And because I saw you in my dreams last night. It wasn't just that I was dreaming of you... but I was dreaming WITH you. And I remember waking up feeling like my head was throbbing. You were checking me out. Seeing how much I knew. Isabel... I'm not going to lie. This is weird. And besides it freaking me out... it really makes me question my place in life. But I have ONE thing on my mind right now. And that's Liz's future and happiness. Now I came here because I trust you and you are the only person who can help me. I don't want Liz to go through life wishing she had taken that chance. I just want her to be happy." She looked down and found he was holding her hand softly across her desk. He was leaning forward passionately fighting Elizabeth's case. His love and loyalty almost brought her to tears.
"She's got a great friend on her hands." Isabel smiled weakly, her mind defeated. This man had basically read her life story in minutes. And the thing she feared the most was no longer so scary. He didn't run and hide or cower in disgust. On the contrary, he held her hand for dear life.
"I'd like to be YOUR friend... if you'd let me." She nodded her head and sighed loudly.
"Max is miserable without her. He was moping and fighting and could barely concentrate on helping Michael. We each have these special 'gifts', I guess you could call them. I, as you know, can walk into people's dreams. Michael has been known to be slightly telekenetic and likes to blow things up. It's more a personality trait. Max has always been less prone to use ANY of his powers. Being under constant surveillance by the FBI, he tried to keep his body as normal as possible. We fear that using our powers might change something in us."
"Make you less human." She nodded and he sat back, finally understanding a bit more about the mystery of the three people who had catapaulted into his life.
"The thing is... we've never gotten seriously ill before. We barely visit hospitals and if we get bruised badly, Max is usually there to heal us. But what Michael has is... new. And I'm scared to death Alex. We don't know what our life span is. We don't even know how similar we are to you. All we know is that we LOOK human. And we bleed and we breathe the way you do. But it's getting to the point that we can't help him alone. We need professional help or he may die."
"I think I'm getting an idea."
"Well, you better think quick. Max leaves tonight."