A/N: hey guys, yes I know I've been away for ages again, but I'm back
again. The whole story has been edited as I was struggling with writing it,
please read the past chapters if you haven't already because much of the
stuff from now won't make any sense if you don't! Please keep on reviewing
as it keeps me writing!
Adam stood, looking up at Liz and Maria's apartment. The memory of the three strangers hovered in his mind, something was wrong, they weren't normal and he had to do something about it! He was loath to hurt Liz' friends, but there was no other option. Those three meant trouble and he had to report them!
***
'Danger?' questioned Max quietly.
Serena nodded, 'Someone is following Liz, Maria and Kyle.'
Max, Michael and Isabel looked at each other in fear, the memory of their cold cell appearing all too easily in their minds. The brief silence was broken by the sound of Liz' bitter laughter. Everyone except Maria and Kyle looked at her in surprise.
'So what's new?' asked Liz with anger showing clearly in her voice.
'What?' asked Max. Liz just ignored him.
'You knew about this?' asked Isabel, her eyes wide in surprise.
'Of course we knew! Why do you think we didn't want you going outside?' continued Liz.
Michael turned to Maria, 'Well?'
'Yes we knew, it's a little hard to miss it.'
'Did you not think to tell us? Perhaps we might have wanted to know!' burst out Michael. Maria opened her mouth to reply, closed it again and looked away, blinking back the tears that rose into her eyes. Michael felt immediately regretful of his outburst, looks like that time on Antar had done nothing to improve his communication skills. He'd only been back for about a day and he'd already hurt Maria, that must be a record, even for him!
Liz saw her friend's pain and anger began to well up within her. She stood up glaring at the four aliens. 'Don't you dare try and lay any blame on us! While you lot were off on your vacation to a galaxy far, far away we have been constantly followed and stalked. We knew that at any moment we could just be grabbed and tortured till we talk! Our lives have been made a living hell because of you lot, none of us have been allowed to escape the alien vortex, they made sure of that! Did you think that the FBI would just forget about us lot when you left? Or that they wouldn't care when a space ship shot off and you three were missing? Well they did! And we're still paying the consequences of it!'
'The FBI?' whispered Isabel.
Kyle walked across the room and took Liz' hand in an effort to calm her anger. He turned to the others who were all looking at him expectantly and with one last glance at Liz and Maria he began. 'When you left, they detected your ship. They were all ready pretty close to picking you up but that brought them straight to Roswell, it didn't take them long to figure out the occupants of the ship. They knew you'd gone but they thought there could be more, and so they stayed! They didn't lay a finger on us, they couldn't, but they made sure that we knew they were around and that we were in no way free to go on living our lives!
'This is the only university that actually accepted Liz and Maria. Why? Liz could have got to Harvard with her eyes closed and Maria could have been selling number one singles within a week of your departure but they had no chance. Harvard was warned off and it's not much of a mystery as to why no record companies know the name Maria DeLuca! Just three small letters answer that F-B-I! But they didn't even stop there! Your dad's law firm was publicly disgraced, he now works at the UFO center as their accountant. Liz' parents went into debt at the diner, they only just managed to keep hold of it! My dad got thrown out of the police force, he works as a cook at the diner. I was obviously small fry, they let me get as far as Berkley.. just. None of us have been free since.'
'Why didn't you do something?' asked Isabel, mystified. 'Couldn't you take some kind of legal action?'
'You can't take legal action against people who don't exist..' replied Maria from where she sat with her head in her hands listening to all the hurt in her life being dragged out from under the carpet.
All four aliens turned to look at Kyle in confusion. He sighed, 'The government denied all knowledge of the Special Unit. Like Maria said, you can't hurt someone who isn't there!'
Liz took her hand out of Kyle's, she had to get out of here. She didn't want to hear any more. Why hash over what she already knew? She had destroyed everyone's lives, why go into it further, it's not like she didn't regret it every living second! She grabbed her bag from the table and walked out the door, murmuring something about going for a walk.
Max stood up quickly as if to follow her. He had to do something, he could see all the pain she was in.. he had to do something. Kyle immediately jumped in front of him. 'Don't you get it Max? If you go outside you're mincemeat! Keput! Kablamo! Along with the rest of us! The FBI haven't forgotten who you are in all this time! You're stuck here!'
'We're what?' demanded Michael. Stuck here, in this one apartment. What kind of life could Maria have if her boyfriend was forever stuck in one place, never an evening out together, not anniversary holidays, or moonlight walks. Just. well, it had to be said, just a cheap apartment in the middle of a university! 'We can't spend our whole lives here!' He looked round the department in disgust as he said this.
'Yeah well right now Michael you haven't got much of a choice, unless the idea of a nice FBI operating table appeals to you! I know how much these guys can do OK, you don't want to mess with them! If you thought Pierce was bad well then you've only experienced the pink fluffy version! I haven't just been ignoring my suited friends for the past two years, none of us have! While you guys have been playing kings and queens we've been trying to stay alive!'
'What do you mean?' asked Isabel. She had to admit that Kyle's comment about Kings and Queens had hurt, if he only knew! But she couldn't blame him, if she was in his position she would be angry, they'd been abandoned with almost all the danger for two years. She looked over at Max and saw his dejected face, he wouldn't want anyone to know how much all this was tearing him apart but lets say she'd learnt a few things about her brother while on Antar, she'd learnt he wasn't as strong as he made himself look, or at least not without Liz Parker. It was the same with Michael as well, he pretended he was strong but when he had found that Maria was no longer there, he had crumbled, perhaps that was why it had been so easy for Tess to have her way! None of them had had the heart to stand up to her. But where did she, Isabel, stand now? Max was trying to get Liz back, Michael had Maria back if he watched his mouth and she. well, she had lost her strength a long time ago, Tess had killed him!
'Just after you'd gone, when things started to go wrong, your dad did some research into the special unit. With all his resources and legal knowledge he found out quite a lot. That's why they targeted his law firm, but they were too late, he already had quite a lot of knowledge. He had names, figures, records and pictures. They helped up a bit, we knew roughly who to trust and who not to. And as time went on we found ways of getting more information, listening to conversations, following people and getting people to follow us. It wasn't too hard and it made it possible to rebuild our lives a bit. But we never got enough information to bust them and as time went on they got better at hiding things, until now we're not sure who is and who isn't! And we have no way to find out.'
Adam stood, looking up at Liz and Maria's apartment. The memory of the three strangers hovered in his mind, something was wrong, they weren't normal and he had to do something about it! He was loath to hurt Liz' friends, but there was no other option. Those three meant trouble and he had to report them!
***
'Danger?' questioned Max quietly.
Serena nodded, 'Someone is following Liz, Maria and Kyle.'
Max, Michael and Isabel looked at each other in fear, the memory of their cold cell appearing all too easily in their minds. The brief silence was broken by the sound of Liz' bitter laughter. Everyone except Maria and Kyle looked at her in surprise.
'So what's new?' asked Liz with anger showing clearly in her voice.
'What?' asked Max. Liz just ignored him.
'You knew about this?' asked Isabel, her eyes wide in surprise.
'Of course we knew! Why do you think we didn't want you going outside?' continued Liz.
Michael turned to Maria, 'Well?'
'Yes we knew, it's a little hard to miss it.'
'Did you not think to tell us? Perhaps we might have wanted to know!' burst out Michael. Maria opened her mouth to reply, closed it again and looked away, blinking back the tears that rose into her eyes. Michael felt immediately regretful of his outburst, looks like that time on Antar had done nothing to improve his communication skills. He'd only been back for about a day and he'd already hurt Maria, that must be a record, even for him!
Liz saw her friend's pain and anger began to well up within her. She stood up glaring at the four aliens. 'Don't you dare try and lay any blame on us! While you lot were off on your vacation to a galaxy far, far away we have been constantly followed and stalked. We knew that at any moment we could just be grabbed and tortured till we talk! Our lives have been made a living hell because of you lot, none of us have been allowed to escape the alien vortex, they made sure of that! Did you think that the FBI would just forget about us lot when you left? Or that they wouldn't care when a space ship shot off and you three were missing? Well they did! And we're still paying the consequences of it!'
'The FBI?' whispered Isabel.
Kyle walked across the room and took Liz' hand in an effort to calm her anger. He turned to the others who were all looking at him expectantly and with one last glance at Liz and Maria he began. 'When you left, they detected your ship. They were all ready pretty close to picking you up but that brought them straight to Roswell, it didn't take them long to figure out the occupants of the ship. They knew you'd gone but they thought there could be more, and so they stayed! They didn't lay a finger on us, they couldn't, but they made sure that we knew they were around and that we were in no way free to go on living our lives!
'This is the only university that actually accepted Liz and Maria. Why? Liz could have got to Harvard with her eyes closed and Maria could have been selling number one singles within a week of your departure but they had no chance. Harvard was warned off and it's not much of a mystery as to why no record companies know the name Maria DeLuca! Just three small letters answer that F-B-I! But they didn't even stop there! Your dad's law firm was publicly disgraced, he now works at the UFO center as their accountant. Liz' parents went into debt at the diner, they only just managed to keep hold of it! My dad got thrown out of the police force, he works as a cook at the diner. I was obviously small fry, they let me get as far as Berkley.. just. None of us have been free since.'
'Why didn't you do something?' asked Isabel, mystified. 'Couldn't you take some kind of legal action?'
'You can't take legal action against people who don't exist..' replied Maria from where she sat with her head in her hands listening to all the hurt in her life being dragged out from under the carpet.
All four aliens turned to look at Kyle in confusion. He sighed, 'The government denied all knowledge of the Special Unit. Like Maria said, you can't hurt someone who isn't there!'
Liz took her hand out of Kyle's, she had to get out of here. She didn't want to hear any more. Why hash over what she already knew? She had destroyed everyone's lives, why go into it further, it's not like she didn't regret it every living second! She grabbed her bag from the table and walked out the door, murmuring something about going for a walk.
Max stood up quickly as if to follow her. He had to do something, he could see all the pain she was in.. he had to do something. Kyle immediately jumped in front of him. 'Don't you get it Max? If you go outside you're mincemeat! Keput! Kablamo! Along with the rest of us! The FBI haven't forgotten who you are in all this time! You're stuck here!'
'We're what?' demanded Michael. Stuck here, in this one apartment. What kind of life could Maria have if her boyfriend was forever stuck in one place, never an evening out together, not anniversary holidays, or moonlight walks. Just. well, it had to be said, just a cheap apartment in the middle of a university! 'We can't spend our whole lives here!' He looked round the department in disgust as he said this.
'Yeah well right now Michael you haven't got much of a choice, unless the idea of a nice FBI operating table appeals to you! I know how much these guys can do OK, you don't want to mess with them! If you thought Pierce was bad well then you've only experienced the pink fluffy version! I haven't just been ignoring my suited friends for the past two years, none of us have! While you guys have been playing kings and queens we've been trying to stay alive!'
'What do you mean?' asked Isabel. She had to admit that Kyle's comment about Kings and Queens had hurt, if he only knew! But she couldn't blame him, if she was in his position she would be angry, they'd been abandoned with almost all the danger for two years. She looked over at Max and saw his dejected face, he wouldn't want anyone to know how much all this was tearing him apart but lets say she'd learnt a few things about her brother while on Antar, she'd learnt he wasn't as strong as he made himself look, or at least not without Liz Parker. It was the same with Michael as well, he pretended he was strong but when he had found that Maria was no longer there, he had crumbled, perhaps that was why it had been so easy for Tess to have her way! None of them had had the heart to stand up to her. But where did she, Isabel, stand now? Max was trying to get Liz back, Michael had Maria back if he watched his mouth and she. well, she had lost her strength a long time ago, Tess had killed him!
'Just after you'd gone, when things started to go wrong, your dad did some research into the special unit. With all his resources and legal knowledge he found out quite a lot. That's why they targeted his law firm, but they were too late, he already had quite a lot of knowledge. He had names, figures, records and pictures. They helped up a bit, we knew roughly who to trust and who not to. And as time went on we found ways of getting more information, listening to conversations, following people and getting people to follow us. It wasn't too hard and it made it possible to rebuild our lives a bit. But we never got enough information to bust them and as time went on they got better at hiding things, until now we're not sure who is and who isn't! And we have no way to find out.'