To say that the past week and a half had been bizarre would be a great understatement. Kyle, with his strange sense of humor, preferred the phrase "out of this world." But of course, Maria and Alex would only roll their eyes and slip back into their disturbed thoughts at the mention of anything remotely alien. Liz was better about it, albeit not much. She was only taking his humor better because she had that weird link with Max and could sense him.
If Kyle didn't know better, he'd say that Maria and Alex were jealous of Liz. They wanted that kind of link to Michael and Isabel and felt denied because they didn't have it. Hell, he even wished that he had that sort of connection to Cloie just so he wouldn't feel so lost without her. But, unlike Michael and Isabel, Cloie wasn't an alien, so it would never happen anyway.
As far as thinking of his brother-in-law and the others as aliens...well...he was getting used to the idea. He had no clue how he'd act if he ever saw any of them again, knowing that they were different. He liked to think that he'd still think of them as the friends that they had become and not as short gray creatures with huge almond-shaped eyes who were here to do inhumane experiments on them and stick probes...Ok Kyle. No more stupid alien movies for you. He almost laughed at the thoughts that had been playing through his mind. Almost.
His thoughts were interrupted by Alex's sudden appearance on the porch. "Nice view isn't it?"
Kyle nodded as he glanced out into the open desert that stretched on for an eternity behind the Whitmans' home. The evening sky of orange and purple haze was just beginning to blacken and show the millions of stars high above them. "It makes me feel sort of small."
Alex took a seat on the thick wooden railing and looked at Kyle for a moment. "First time for everything, right?"
A smile tugged at his lips and his blue eyes danced with humor, "I guess so, Whitman. But I guess now I see things a little differently, you know?"
"Yeah. I remember that feeling, knowing for sure that all of the rumors and stories had a bit of truth to them. That we weren't really alone. And then to find out that the girl I had loved for so long was different was really hard to comprehend for a little while. But then I realized that Isabel was still Isabel. She hadn't changed."
"I guess that means that I have it easy. I'm not in love with an alien." Kyle frowned. It had been over a month since Cloie had seemingly dropped off of the earth and he still felt the pain. He blamed himself, having decided that her parents had nothing to do with her leaving, that it was something that he had done. He had pushed her too far too fast. And now he was alone.
He remembered a song that had been popular when he was younger, back before he tried to deny his love for country music. Bryan White had made a hit out of the way that Kyle felt right now. He had tried putting all of her pictures away, had even tried to quit wearing the gold band that she had given him good-humoredly as an engagement ring. None of it worked though. He still loved her.
"Cloie will come back, you know." Alex's soft, concerned tone shook him from his walk towards self-pity.
"That's what I dream. But every day goes by without any word and..."
"And nothing.. We're in the same boat now. We're both hopelessly in love and because of that love, we're both haunted."
Liz sighed loudly for no reason other than to fill the quiet. She knew that Alex and Kyle were out back and figured that Maria was avoiding her. There was not doubt that Liz loved her best friend dearly, but the girl needed to learn how to get over a grudge.
Maria had been acting weird ever since they had found out about the connection and had even started to leave the room if Liz came in. Liz wished that Maria would at least talk to her. She knew that she had a great gift with her link, but she wished that there were a way to have both that and for Maria to get over her pain and jealousy.
They still weren't sure why she had the connection and not the others. Their only guess was that the child growing in her womb was the answer. And, as it grew, so did the strength of the bond.
Liz had awoken that morning to a sense of worry. Before she was able to give it much thought, she had been forced to make a run for the bathroom. Afterwards, while sitting on the tile floor with Kyle next to her, doing Alex's usual job of holding out the washcloth and water, she had been filled with a burst of joy that was not her own.
"Liz? What is it? Is something wrong?" Kyle's brow was furrowed with worry.
She smiled brightly and started to laugh, softly at first, then louder as the happiness flowed through her veins. Her shoulders shook and tears streamed down her cheeks. She hadn't laughed-really laughed-since Max had been gone and it felt wonderful. She could feel his emotions and he could probably feel hers!
She figured that the previous jolt of worry had been Max's over the feelings that she had woken up with due to bad dreams. His elation was making her heart lift and she knew right then that she would be all right. She almost went into another fit of laughter when a worried Kyle scrambled out of the bathroom to find Alex.
As she smiled to herself over the memory, she felt the now familiar tug that told her that Max was relieved, happy, and anxious all at once. Liz simply wondered if it was her imagination or she really felt the twinge of fear as well.
A/N: Well folks...that's it for now. This is one I desperatly want to see done...and I've got more written, it just needs to be molded to fit how I want it to go. I could use some encouragement to get back into this...(read: shameless begging for reviews)