First
Wave: "The Lost Prophesies"
Chapter Ten – Dealing
Summary: Set nine months after the rescue, Max has to deal with his missing three years
Disclaimer: See Chapter One
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"The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that sometimes we wait too long to begin it."
- W.M. Lewis
Isabel sat quietly on her bed as Liz packed the last of her belongings in a cardboard box. Out of the two of them Liz definitely had less personal objects, but it still seemed as if the room was bare without the knickknacks that displayed the uniqueness that was Liz.
Isabel chewed at her lip as she wandered who would become her new dorm mate and whether it would be possible to request a single room so late into the year.
"Nervous?" Asked Isabel, knowing instinctively that the answer would be no.
As expected Liz shook her head, her face aglow with the thought of what tomorrow would bring.
"Not really, mostly just flustered with the suddenness of everything. When I agreed to marry your brother on the day of his graduation, I never expected it to be so soon."
"Yes, well, that's where alien connections come in handy. Most people wouldn't have been able to complete two plus years of high school in nine months, but Max is not a 'people' so for him it was a breeze." Isabel smirked "Well…a breeze because of me and my nifty little mind connection with him…what would my little brother do without me?"
"I like that he's not a 'people', 'cause I'm greedy and just have to have the whole package that is Max Evans" replied Liz, a naughty glint in her eyes.
"Liz! I'm shocked!" Teased Isabel, happy that life was falling into place so perfectly whilst simultaneously repressing the niggling doubt in the back of her mind that told her life was just a little too perfect and something bad was bound to happen sooner or later.
"Seriously though" continued Liz, "there's just so much to do in such a short time, I've still got to move all my things into the new apartment and confirm the time with the priest…phone the florist and caterer…"
"Liz! It'll be okay, there's plenty of helpers hanging around for you to delegate to."
Just then the dorm room door was thrown open and Maria came springing in "hey, hey, hey, I come baring gifts of big strong men to carry all your boxes."
Behind the cheerful alien stood a sullen Michael and a not so excited Alex, obviously neither man had come willingly to assist with the move.
"I don't know what you need me for, I thought we lived in a time of equal rights and that girls could do everything guys could?" Argued Michael.
"Also, and I know it may not seem like it, but I'm not so good with the lifting of heavy objects" added Alex.
Michael gave him a look of disdain before focusing on the girls again "so anyway…have fun."
Michael began to brush past Alex when he was stopped in his tracks by Maria. "Hey! Get back here spaceboy and practice the art of helping people for no other reason than it's nice to do something for others once in awhile!"
Growling in annoyance, Michael snatched up the nearest box and left the room.
Glancing awkwardly at the girls, Alex pointed to another box and said, "so…I'll just take one of these then?"
At Maria's nod, he too picked up a box and left the room.
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Kyle slipped in through the door and shut it behind him, dumping his duffel bag at the door he stepped into the living room expecting to be greeted by the typical bachelor pad of dirty dishes and laundry resting on every available surface.
His mouth opened in astonishment as he took in the clean state of the living room. His eyes swept the expanse of the room as his mind tried to reach a logical explanation.
Dad has a girlfriend was the only excuse his mind could conjure. Why else would he bother to keep the place not only neat, but spotlessly clean.
Kyle came out of his shocked stupor when he heard the door open behind him, turning around he expected to come face to face with his father, instead for the second time in as many minutes his expectations were proven to be wrong. Before him stood not only his father, but also a young girl and guy.
As if frozen in mid movement, all four people stood facing each other in surprise.
That's when Kyle noticed his father was wearing a suit and began to wonder if he had been in a car accident and was now suffering from a head injury and major hallucinations.
"Kyle" laughed Jim nervously "why aren't you at school?" Asked Jim, not daring to take a step into the room.
"Long weekend! Why are you wearing a suit? Who are they?" Demanded Kyle, beginning to become uncomfortable.
Jim stepped into the house, followed by the two young adults "This is Alex and Maria Deluca." Introduced the Sheriff.
Kyle nodded "okay…but why are they in our house?"
Jim cleared his throat; giving his son a sheepish grin "they live here."
"Excuse me…what?"
"Yeah, uh, neat huh?"
"It's not for long, in fact, we'll probably be out next week after Max moves into his new place…" began Alex.
"Max? As in Max Evans?" Interrupted Kyle, feeling more and more like he'd stepped into the twilight zone.
The Sheriff continued to grin at his son "turns out he's not dead after all, just in a coma after the accident."
Kyle looked at his father incredulously. "A coma?"
"It's a, uh, long story…after the accident he was disorientated and wandered away from the vehicle before collapsing a few miles away from the scene, where he was found some hours later and taken to the hospital." Finished Jim, doing his best not to wince at the incredibly bad B Grade movie line.
Let's face it, the explanation sucked. But it was better than 'oh it's okay, we broke him out of the Government Installation before the evil Aliens could'.
"But you searched the hospital" stated Kyle, clearly not believing the story.
"I searched the hospital two hours earlier, long before he was even found by tourists and immediately transferred to Albuquerque, where they're more equipped to handle coma patients. His identity was unknown and he was assumed to be a runaway. No one at the hospital had heard about the missing kid from Roswell, and naturally we had no reason to search hospitals so far away."
"And am I the only person who thinks that there's something wrong with that entire story?" Demanded Kyle in frustration.
When his father didn't reply, Kyle decided to drop the subject of Max Evans "so why are you wearing a suit?"
"I just came from a fitting, I had to have it made because it turns out I don't own a suit…or anything that resembles one anyway." Laughed Jim, still extremely uncomfortable with the whole situation of having to lie to his son.
"I'm still confused as to why you would even need one?"
"Oh! For the wedding tomorrow."
"Oh God, please tell me you're not getting married?" groaned Kyle, not entirely surprised that his father would be getting hitched without his knowledge, after all, his father seemed to have made quite a few changes over the past months without keeping him informed.
"Max and Liz's wedding actually."
Kyle groped for the sofa with his hand as his legs weakened under him.
This was crazier than the thought of his father getting married. For months before Max disappeared, his father had become super-paranoid at the mention of Max Evans, in fact, his fathers intense feelings for the boy rivalled even his own. So why the hell was his father getting suits made in order to attend the wedding of the very man he detested and had warned his own son against?
In addition to all the questions running through his head, Kyle began to wonder why his father, already paranoid over the subject of Max would even begin to believe the outrageous tale about coma's and far off hospitals who didn't even try and find where their John Doe patient had come from.
Max Evans had not only stolen his girlfriend, but it appeared that he was now also taking his father away.
Just what the hell had transpired over the past few months while he had been at school?
"…and then, true to her extremely annoying nature she made me carry all the boxes to the car, with only Alex to help, and I don't know if you've noticed but that boy isn't the most helpful when it comes to carrying heavy objects, not to mention that not a word that comes out of his mouth makes any sense unless you're a fellow star trek junkie…"
Max nodded at the appropriate breaks in sentence to give the illusion he was listening to the grumbling coming from the general direction of his bed where Michael had sprawled himself after entering the room moments earlier.
"What I want to know is why I had to carry YOUR fiancé's junk whilst you sat around and did…what exactly have you been doing whilst I was forced into hard labour?" Questioned Michael, suddenly finding himself even more annoyed with the events of the morning.
"Wedding stuff." Answered Max, clearly pre-occupied with something else.
Michael scrutinised his friend for a few moments before asking "what's up with you? Wedding jitters?"
Max sighed before seating himself at the edge of the bed "my Aunt phoned, she says my mother's not doing too well…she won't be able to fly down for the wedding."
Michael remained silent, instinctively knowing that his friend was looking for a sympathetic ear and not pitying comments.
"The thing is, I expected it after seeing her the last time, in fact, each time I've visited in the past nine months she's gotten steadily worse." Max paused, running his fingers through his hair "Isabel has been so excited, she's made so many plans, taken time off from school so that she can spend it with mom…"
"Your fathers going to be at the wedding though?" Asked Michael, already dreading the answer.
Max shook his head "he's spent so much time away from her the past couple of years whilst looking for me, I don't think he wants to waste another minute apart from her….he doesn't think she's going to last out the year, the cancer is spreading too fast."
Michael sat up "it's not fair."
It was said quietly, without malice or bitterness.
"You've tried healing her?"
Max nodded "If I'd been here when she was first diagnosed…maybe I could've done something…I don't know!"
Max looked into the saddened face of his best friend and asked "what's the purpose of having this power if I can't use it to help the people I love?"
"Max, I know that this may not help, and I'll probably earn a black eye for saying this but…at least you got to tell her. Not many people are given the opportunity to say goodbye, to say 'I love you', and most of all, at least she got to tell you!"
Giving Michael a small smile, Max said "you're smarter than people give you credit for!"
Michael grinned "just don't go around telling people that, they might start looking at me differently!"
Standing up Max turned to face his friend "so, where's this dinner you promised to make for all of us? I'm interested to see if night school is paying off!"
"Dude, once you've tasted my macaroni, you won't want to eat anything else ever again" replied Michael as he too got off the bed.
Dinner that night was a cosy affair, consisting only of the four aliens and the two humans. The six friends and family members sat around the dinning table, sharing good wine and good memories, toasting to their future happiness and to the prosperity of the soon-to-be-married couple.
For a short while they forgot that four of them had a destiny as Royalty on a far away planet, or that Government Agents and Alien Killers were constantly after them.
They forgot that more than three years previously they had lost their innocence and would soon loose a much loved mother.
They forgot about the pain, loneliness and heartbreak and remembered the joy, the new friends and family, they found hope and happiness in each other and each of them knew that whatever the future brought, they would handle it fine, so long as the six of them remained together.
Max watched silently, a smile playing on his lips as Michael carried through the dishes of food from the kitchen and as Isabel teased him on his new found talent.
It would be awhile before the horrors of the past four years would ease from his mind, fortunately, fate has spared him the memories of his torture, all that remained were vague impressions and emotions.
Clearing his mind of thoughts of the past couple of years, Max continued to watch as Maria overcame her shock at the tasteful spread Michael had set out to compliment him, which Michael took as an underhanded remark about his cooking which ended up in good natured bickering, something Max was beginning to get used to when it came to the two of them.
On his right Liz giggled at the antics of her friends as Alex attempted to break up the bickering two aliens.
It's good to be home thought Max and he picked up his fork and began to eat.
THE END
Thanks Guys for all of your reviews, and if you're interested in reading more about this alternative universe, please look out for the sequel called First Wave: "Destiny is what you do with it…"
This story will include characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, so you can find it in the Crossover TV Shows section, or alternatively you can find it at my profile page.
