"Alex's alive!"
Chapter 8:
Liz found herself waking up, she was in her bedroom, lying on her bed and she looked into terrified amber eyes of Max.
"God Liz." Max breathed out. "Don't do that again! You scared the life out of me." Max hissed out, the image of her fainting was still fresh in his mind.
"Sorry." Liz whispered out hoarsely and she sent calming waves of reassurance to Zan, she could sense him fussing.
"You do realise that Maria isn't going to let you get off for fainting like that." Max stated and Liz groaned as she tried to sit up into a sitting position, the pain in her head made it impossible, she placed a hand on the back of her head only to find a lump. "Jim tried to catch you but he caught your back in time but was too late to get the head." Max explained as he healed the bump and the pain went with it.
"Thanks." She whispered out and Max nodded. "Alex is still alive." She breathed out, still stunned by the revelation.
"How do you know?" Max asked.
"I don't know, I just got this image from Isabel. I saw her hugging Alex and you were holding Zan, shaking his hand." Liz explained.
"You think you saw the future." Max asked and Liz threw him a look saying the idea annoyed her.
"I don't know." Liz admitted and sighed. "Maybe it was wishful thinking from Isabel." Liz shrugged as Michael came in with a squirming Zan.
"He wants you two and he keeps kicking me!" He exclaimed as he handed Zan over to Max and turned to Liz. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine, tell everyone we will be out soon." Liz stated and Michael nodded as he turned to leave the room.
"Another thing he inherited from his father." Michael muttered as he left the room.
Liz snickered as Max handed Zan over to her; she kissed his forehead while rubbing a hand over his back, comforting him. Zan calmed down in her arms, rested his head on her breast, over her heart while clutching the material of her top in his small hand, and watched his father.
"How is it he can look so serious?" Max asked and Liz smiled.
"Are you telling me that you weren't serious when you were a kid?" Liz teased and Max laughed slightly, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Yeah I was, but that's because of our secret." Max explained and Liz nodded.
"He takes after you." Liz stated. "Beside, he can feel the tension in the air, he knows when it's a serious moment or not." Liz explained.
"You do know that we have to go out there and explain what we saw don't you?" Max asked and Liz sighed.
"Yeah I know but I'm so drained." Liz whispered and Max nodded.
"I know, how about I call them in here and you can tell them from sitting here then you can go to sleep after they leave?" Max suggested and Liz nodded.
"Yeah, that'll make it easier for me." Liz agreed.
The gang came in and Liz told them everything that happened in the flash, leaving the gang to mull over what she saw.
"So you are saying that Alex is alive." Maria asked, hopeful and Liz shrugged.
"I don't know Maria, I have no idea about my powers since dad died before telling me so I don't know if I really saw anything." Liz explained, not wanting to get Maria's hope up just to have them dashed if it was just hopeful thinking. Everyone nodded, understanding what she was doing.
"Okay, I think you all need to go home and think this through, we've all been through a lot in last few hours and I have no doubt that our brain are problem on overload." Max stated and everyone nodded as they stood up, each person hugged Liz, making sure that she was okay before leaving. "And you, time for you to go to sleep." Max stated to Liz, he kissed her on the lips as he took Zan from her arms, letting herself get comfortable in her bed to go to sleep as he looked after Zan.
XXXX
Max, Michael and Tess walked into the Crashdown the next morning and saw Liz sitting there with a huge smile as she worked on her homework.
Tess slid in next to her while Max sat across from Liz and Michael slid in next to Max.
"What are you happy about?" Tess asked.
"Maria got her own back on Kyle." Liz stated.
"Curse you to hell!" Kyle snapped as he hit the milkshake machine with the metal spoon.
"Kyle, don't hit the…" Liz started but trailed off when the milkshake machine exploded, sending the green gloop over Kyle. "Machine." Liz finished off, dryly before rolling her eyes and turning back to her homework.
"Damn you! Damn you to hell you evil Machine!" Kyle growled, shaking his fist at the machine before stalking off into the toilet to get washed.
Max, Michael and Tess were laughing.
"Classic!" Michael gasped out.
"What the hell did Kyle do to Maria?" Tess asked once they all settled down.
"He called her somewhere along the line a fridged bitch who had a stick that needed pulling from her ass." Liz stated with a shrug. "You know what's she like when she babbles."
"What did Maria do?" Max asked, knowing that Maria wouldn't have left it there.
"She told him, the only time that she was going to pull the stick out was to whack him over his fat Buddha head if he didn't start praying to Buddha and start respecting girls." Liz finished of dryly, causing the three of them to snicker.
"And this?" Tess asked.
"After my fainting fit last night, Maria said that I needed the rest and god help anyone who got in the way of my resting so she pulled Kyle in at six o clock to open this morning, gave him his marching orders and left." Liz stated.
"Go Maria!" Tess cheered.
"And where's Zan?" Max asked and Liz rolled her eyes.
"They took him with them, they basically kidnapped Zan from his bed this morning before leaving!" Liz exclaimed.
"They?" Max asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Your barmy sister and best friend, I never even got to see him when he woke up!" Liz exclaimed. "But, they'll be back in about five, four, three, two, one…" Liz stated, looking at her clock.
On the dot, Isabel and Maria came rushing in with a wailing Zan, they hurried over to Liz and handed him Zan.
Zan settled down in Liz's arm immediately and cuddled into his mother, playing with the hair that had fallen over her shoulder.
"How do you do that?" Isabel demanded and Liz rolled her eyes.
"Zan doesn't like being away from Max and I, you took him away before he woke up." Liz explained, patiently as she kissed Zan's forehead. "He must have gotten a fright when he woke up and saw strange surroundings."
Liz watched, as Zan's eyelids got heavy and smiled gently as he yawned before closing his eyes and falling asleep, causing soft squeals from the girls.
"He is just so adorable!" Tess whispered as she pushed Zan's hair from his forehead, only to fall back into place like Max.
"I know." Liz whispered back as she hugged Zan tighter to her body.
"Should he be going to sleep right now?" Isabel asked.
"It's his nap time, he only goes to sleep when one of us is holding him." Max explained.
Zan curled his hand into Liz's top and clutched the material in his small hand while Liz ran her hand up and down his back, comforting him.
"Sounds like someone is spoiled." Maria teased and Max and Liz laughed gently as they looked at each other before looking down at Zan.
"Yeah, he is." Max whispered affectionately as he let a finger trail down Zan's cheek.
XXXXX
Max and Liz were sitting in a small café downtown, they had went shopping to get some baby clothes for Zan as he was growing out of them really fast. Zan was sitting on Max's lap, looking around the building as Max and Liz laughed over a memory they had remembered the year before.
Max ran a hand over Zan's hair and watched as Zan turned to look at his chest before tears filled up his eyes.
"Liz, he's hungry again." Max stated to Liz. Liz took Zan into his arms and pulled down her strapped top slightly while Max removed the dummy from Zan's mouth.
Liz breast-fed him while stroking his back.
"He's always hungry." Liz stated thoughtfully and Max shrugged.
"Maybe it has something to do with our background." Max stated, being careful with their surrounding and Liz nodded.
"Maybe." Liz stated before looking down and locking eyes with Zan.
A bit of Liz's hair had fallen over her shoulder, causing Zan to, gently, grab it and start playing with it while Max grinned at the sight.
'Like father, like son' Max thought to himself as Zan let go of Liz's nipple, Liz covered herself up before handing Zan over to Max so he could burp Zan.
"He's adorable." An old lady stated to her friend who was sitting next to her, her friend nodded in agreement as they watched the young man rub his hand up and down the adorable boy's back. "Your brother is really sweet." The lady stated to Liz.
Liz turned around and smiled.
"He's our son actually and thank you." Liz informed with a warm smile, the two ladies were startled.
"Oh, we're sorry, we just assumed." The second lady stammered and Liz nodded.
"It's okay, we get it all the time." Liz assured.
"What's his name?" the first lady asked.
"Zan, his name is Zan, short for Alexander." Max informed as he turned around to face the two ladies, Zan had settled himself down on Max's lap and playing with Max's necklace.
"You're Max Evans, aren't you?" The first lady asked and Max nodded. "I knew your parents, your father was my lawyer when my husband died." She told him. "And I was really good friends with your Grandparents."
"Sorry, I don't really remember you." Max apologised and the lady shook her head.
"It's okay, you were about six or seven when I met you." She stated. "I'm Sarah Andrews and this is my friend Emily Warthon." Sarah stated.
"It's nice to meet you." Liz stated as she turned more fully in her seat.
"He looks so much like Max." Emily observed and Max whined slightly and Liz giggled.
"Max has been hearing that since the day Zan was born, he fearing that Zan's going to have a complex when he's older." Liz explained, causing the two ladies to chuckle.
"Your parents must be proud of Zan." Sarah stated to Max and noticed that his smile seemed to have dimmed.
"Actually my parents have basically disowned me for keeping Zan." Max explained and Sarah nodded, not asking anymore questions, she felt that it was a sensitive subject for him to talk about.
"I'm sure they'll come round soon." Sarah stated before looking at her watch and groaning. "We have to go, we have a book club to get to." Sarah explained and smiled warmly at them once more. "It was really nice to see you again Max and it was a delight to meet you Liz." She stated and they both smiled.
"It's was great to meet you, come by the Crashdown any time you want and you can see Zan." Liz stated and both women nodded.
"We sure will, you can count on it." Emily stated as they both left.
"They seemed nice." Liz observed to Max and he smiled at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his body, kissing the top of her head.
XXXXX
They found themselves back in the Crashdown, surrounded by their friends.
"What are we going to do today?" Maria asked the rest as Tommy looked toward Zan with a smile, holding out a teddy bear only for his smile to drop in a stunned shock when he saw what Zan was doing, he gulped as he turned to Max and Liz, who were laughing and completely oblivious to what Zan was doing.
"Is he supposed to be doing that?" Tommy asked as he pointed to Zan, who was currently cuddling into his mother. Everyone turned to face Zan and saw that his eyes were glowing a red colour, which shocked Max and Liz.
"Alexander Maxwell Evans!" Liz scolded, Zan looked up at his mother, his eyes back to his normal amber colour and his face was a picture of innocence. "Oh no, don't you give me that look. Who taught you how to make your eyes glow like that?" Liz demanded.
"Was it uncle Michael?" Maria asked and Liz looked at Maria.
"Why would it be Michael?" Liz asked.
"He's still sore about us breaking up and me going out with other guys." Maria explained.
"But that doesn't make sense why Zan would be giving them the red eyes." Liz protested.
"To scare them off?" Maria asked and Liz rolled her eyes.
"And why would Zan be concerned about the guys you are going out with and why would Michael use Zan to make them run off?" Liz asked, waiting for an answer.
For the first time, Maria was dumbstruck and Liz nodded. "See, think before you act." Liz stated before turning to Zan. "You know, I am gonna find out how you did that." Liz warned, Zan turned puppy dogs' eyes to her and she shook her head. "And don't even try the puppy dog, it ain't gonna work on me." Liz warned her son.
"Why do you think he was doing that?" Max asked and Liz shrugged.
"I have no idea." Liz exclaimed, feeling befuddled along with everyone else as she stood up from her stool and walked over to the backroom when a flash of lightening snapped in the main part of the Crashdown, causing everyone spun around to face the intruder, he or she all gasped when the figure stood up and straightened them self.
"Alex?" Liz asked, holding Zan close to her body.
TBC…
Da dum. Now there's a cliffhanger, don't worry the next part will be up really soon.
Now, for the 1 million pound question, is it really Alex or an impostor? Cast your votes people.