CHAPTER 20
Serena smiled reassuringly at Adam. He looked scared to death. 'Go on,' she said quietly to him. 'They may as well know!'
Adam took his eyes off Serena's face and looked at the daunting group in front of him. He wasn't ready for this! No one had warned him what he was getting into, he wasn't ready to re-live it again. And it wasn't as though he wanted to be involved in all this! He'd rather jump off a very large cliff into a very cold lake with very few clothes on than do this!
His eyes came to rest on Isabel's face, she was looking at him with curiosity in her eyes, but there was more than that, there was. trust? Adam felt courage fill him as he saw it. He was ready, he could do it. He could do it for her, and for Alex. 'I-' he faltered, but Serena squeezed his hand very slightly, urging him on. 'I'm Alex' brother.'
The room fell completely silent, they were all looking at him with disbelief written all over their faces. Adam shuddered, they didn't believe him, they already though he was a liar! How could he make they believe him! How could he make [I]her[/I] believe him??
'Go on,' urged Serena, once again, from beside him.
Adam swallowed, he didn't know what to say, where to start! He looked at Isabel again, his heart broke at the sight before him. Tears were welling up in her eyes, there was anger on her face, hurt, sadness but still there was trust. Trust that he could not understand! Why was she believing him? It was she of all people who should hate him most! He opened his mouth once more to try and explain.
'Why are you saying this?' asked a quiet voice from the other side of the room.
Adam looked up and saw Liz standing at the other end of the room, small tears on her cheeks. 'Because it's true.'
'No,' Liz shook her head weakly. 'Alex would have told us! Why are you lying?? WHY?!'
Tears were rolling swiftly down her face now. Adam quelled in her gaze. What was he doing? Why was he destroying everything they knew? How could he be breaking Liz' heart again? He'd always tried to help her, to keep her safe and now here he was destroying her world. Why was he doing this?
Alex.
That was his answer, he was doing this for Alex! The brother he'd never known, they'd both been robbed by this alien madness but he couldn't just leave it now. Alex would never have abandoned Liz and Maria, so he wouldn't either.
'He was going to, he just never got the chance.'
'Okay, stop here! Back up a little diary boy!' Michael broke in. 'You want to tell us why we've never met you before even though the Whitmans lived in Roswell for their entire life?'
Here goes nothing, thought Adam. 'Because Alex wasn't a Whitman.'
'What?' gasped Maria. She walked unsteadily to a chair and sat down. 'Adam, please. I've known Alex since we were like three and Liz has known him since she was two! And he's been a Whitman all that time! So how can he 'not be a Whitman'??'
'Because he was adopted.' Adam breathed a huge comforting breath. This was so much damned harder than he'd ever imagined it being, and he'd been imagining telling Liz and Maria about it since the day he'd met them. But the added Alien element was definitely making it a bit harder, along with the diary thing!
'They why'd he never say anything to us?' said Kyle, finally speaking up. It was weird, really weird, but for some reason he didn't need convincing. The fact that Serena seemed so sure was enough for him! The black haired girl who looked like she had the wisdom of a thousand times her years was encouraging the tale, she believed him. That was good enough for Kyle.
'Because he never knew, or at least not until I met him.'
'When was that?' asked Isabel. The calm in her voice seemed unnatural under the circumstances but ever since the initial shock she had known that everything being said was true. After all it explained her feelings from earlier. Of course he felt like Alex! He was Alex' brother. All her anger had faded away just like in that days when Alex had held her, it seemed like he was there holding her now, telling her everything would be alright.
Serena looked over at Adam and was relieved to see he was holding out a lot better than she's expected. These people were crazy, she hadn't thought Adam could manage it, this wasn't quite how she'd planned telling them. 'I think you'd better start at the beginning Adam, right at the beginning!'
Adam nodded gently and then looked down at his hands. 'Well, I guess it started back before I can remember much. I was just two and Mom and Dad took us on a cruise, I forget where. Alex was just 6 months old. We'd gone out to an island for the day, it had been great, apparently we all really enjoyed it! We got on the ferry to come back home at about 7 o'clock, it was already really dark, the weather wasn't great. But when we got half way across a storm started. The boat was old and the storm got so bad that we had to go to the life rafts. My Mom was holding me and dad had Alex.' Adam shuddered as his only memory of the incident came back to him, just the sounds of some screams and the rain on his face.
Serena squeezed Adam's hand again in comfort, she knew how hard this was for him, she'd seen the flashes!
'Mom and dad got split up on the way to the rafts, we got in one, Dad and Alex got into another. That's about it. We never saw them again.' He swallowed, blinking back tears. 'Mom figured that they must've died, drowned or something. A couple of the rafts didn't make it back. She didn't tell me what happened, she just said that my dad had died in a car accident when I was very young. I never even knew Alex existed! We moved to New York and I lived there until I was sixteen.' He paused again, trying to find the will to continue. He looked up at the expectant faces of the group around him. 'Mom was diagnosed with cancer just after I turned 15, she was given under a year to live, she told me everything. '
Adam stopped talking and looked towards Serena, begging her to help him.
'She told him about Alex,' said Serena, taking over. 'And after she died he set out to find him.'
Adam listened half heartedly as Serena told them all about his failure in the early months of his search. He could still remember it, he'd had no idea where to start. He was only 16 for goodness sakes! It wasn't as though he was used to this sort of thing, no where close! He'd almost starved! Like that would have helped his Mom!
'I was still in New York, infiltrating the FBI, things hadn't been going too well. There was an agent, just one agent who was on to me. I dunno how he'd found out, or even how he'd got so close but he walked in on me at my job one day, just like a normal guy and we got involved.' Serena blushed as she remembered. 'He seemed normal, we were even gonna move in with each other-' Kyle grimaced inwardly, jealousy flooding his senses. '-but then I found a gun in his jacket pocket at dinner when he lent me his coat. He knew I'd worked it out and he dragged me into an ally with a gun pointed at me. Just as he pulled the trigger some idiot ran down the ally right in front of me, getting shot instead. Enter Adam Sheldon.'
Adam grinned sheepishly as everyone looked at him in amazement, 'I wasn't a very good pick pocket at that point, the guy was chasing me! It turned out that the ally was the easiest escape! Or at least I thought so, it proved slightly different!'
'The agent freaked out and tried to run, I blasted him with my powers, he died. Adam was just lying on the ground in front of me, bleeding to death, I didn't know what to do! I never was a great healer and people were just coming down the end of the ally cos they'd hard the gun. So I opened a portal and took him back to Antar.'
'I thought I'd died!' Adam chuckled. 'There were bright lights and strange people all around me, oh, and a large silver hand print on my chest!'
'So who healed you?' asked Maria with interest.
'I did,' said Serena. 'With help.'
'After that I had very few secrets from you!' said Adam quietly.
'We vowed to help each other, I'd help him find his brother and he'd help me find the royal family of Antar. He came with me to Roswell.'
'I think she got the better deal,' muttered Adam.
Kyle grinned at him, he liked this guy, if only he wasn't sitting quite so close to Serena! 'So what happened then?'
'Well that's where the confusing story starts!' sighed Adam. He felt a little better now that people were starting to believe him, perhaps this didn't all have to be as hard as he had tried to make it!
'Somehow I think the last part was confusing enough!' groaned Maria.
'So why should we believe you?' asked Liz.
Everyone turned to her in astonishment. Not believe?
Perhaps I spoke too soon! Thought Adam, his heart sinking back down to his boots.
Serena smiled reassuringly at Adam. He looked scared to death. 'Go on,' she said quietly to him. 'They may as well know!'
Adam took his eyes off Serena's face and looked at the daunting group in front of him. He wasn't ready for this! No one had warned him what he was getting into, he wasn't ready to re-live it again. And it wasn't as though he wanted to be involved in all this! He'd rather jump off a very large cliff into a very cold lake with very few clothes on than do this!
His eyes came to rest on Isabel's face, she was looking at him with curiosity in her eyes, but there was more than that, there was. trust? Adam felt courage fill him as he saw it. He was ready, he could do it. He could do it for her, and for Alex. 'I-' he faltered, but Serena squeezed his hand very slightly, urging him on. 'I'm Alex' brother.'
The room fell completely silent, they were all looking at him with disbelief written all over their faces. Adam shuddered, they didn't believe him, they already though he was a liar! How could he make they believe him! How could he make [I]her[/I] believe him??
'Go on,' urged Serena, once again, from beside him.
Adam swallowed, he didn't know what to say, where to start! He looked at Isabel again, his heart broke at the sight before him. Tears were welling up in her eyes, there was anger on her face, hurt, sadness but still there was trust. Trust that he could not understand! Why was she believing him? It was she of all people who should hate him most! He opened his mouth once more to try and explain.
'Why are you saying this?' asked a quiet voice from the other side of the room.
Adam looked up and saw Liz standing at the other end of the room, small tears on her cheeks. 'Because it's true.'
'No,' Liz shook her head weakly. 'Alex would have told us! Why are you lying?? WHY?!'
Tears were rolling swiftly down her face now. Adam quelled in her gaze. What was he doing? Why was he destroying everything they knew? How could he be breaking Liz' heart again? He'd always tried to help her, to keep her safe and now here he was destroying her world. Why was he doing this?
Alex.
That was his answer, he was doing this for Alex! The brother he'd never known, they'd both been robbed by this alien madness but he couldn't just leave it now. Alex would never have abandoned Liz and Maria, so he wouldn't either.
'He was going to, he just never got the chance.'
'Okay, stop here! Back up a little diary boy!' Michael broke in. 'You want to tell us why we've never met you before even though the Whitmans lived in Roswell for their entire life?'
Here goes nothing, thought Adam. 'Because Alex wasn't a Whitman.'
'What?' gasped Maria. She walked unsteadily to a chair and sat down. 'Adam, please. I've known Alex since we were like three and Liz has known him since she was two! And he's been a Whitman all that time! So how can he 'not be a Whitman'??'
'Because he was adopted.' Adam breathed a huge comforting breath. This was so much damned harder than he'd ever imagined it being, and he'd been imagining telling Liz and Maria about it since the day he'd met them. But the added Alien element was definitely making it a bit harder, along with the diary thing!
'They why'd he never say anything to us?' said Kyle, finally speaking up. It was weird, really weird, but for some reason he didn't need convincing. The fact that Serena seemed so sure was enough for him! The black haired girl who looked like she had the wisdom of a thousand times her years was encouraging the tale, she believed him. That was good enough for Kyle.
'Because he never knew, or at least not until I met him.'
'When was that?' asked Isabel. The calm in her voice seemed unnatural under the circumstances but ever since the initial shock she had known that everything being said was true. After all it explained her feelings from earlier. Of course he felt like Alex! He was Alex' brother. All her anger had faded away just like in that days when Alex had held her, it seemed like he was there holding her now, telling her everything would be alright.
Serena looked over at Adam and was relieved to see he was holding out a lot better than she's expected. These people were crazy, she hadn't thought Adam could manage it, this wasn't quite how she'd planned telling them. 'I think you'd better start at the beginning Adam, right at the beginning!'
Adam nodded gently and then looked down at his hands. 'Well, I guess it started back before I can remember much. I was just two and Mom and Dad took us on a cruise, I forget where. Alex was just 6 months old. We'd gone out to an island for the day, it had been great, apparently we all really enjoyed it! We got on the ferry to come back home at about 7 o'clock, it was already really dark, the weather wasn't great. But when we got half way across a storm started. The boat was old and the storm got so bad that we had to go to the life rafts. My Mom was holding me and dad had Alex.' Adam shuddered as his only memory of the incident came back to him, just the sounds of some screams and the rain on his face.
Serena squeezed Adam's hand again in comfort, she knew how hard this was for him, she'd seen the flashes!
'Mom and dad got split up on the way to the rafts, we got in one, Dad and Alex got into another. That's about it. We never saw them again.' He swallowed, blinking back tears. 'Mom figured that they must've died, drowned or something. A couple of the rafts didn't make it back. She didn't tell me what happened, she just said that my dad had died in a car accident when I was very young. I never even knew Alex existed! We moved to New York and I lived there until I was sixteen.' He paused again, trying to find the will to continue. He looked up at the expectant faces of the group around him. 'Mom was diagnosed with cancer just after I turned 15, she was given under a year to live, she told me everything. '
Adam stopped talking and looked towards Serena, begging her to help him.
'She told him about Alex,' said Serena, taking over. 'And after she died he set out to find him.'
Adam listened half heartedly as Serena told them all about his failure in the early months of his search. He could still remember it, he'd had no idea where to start. He was only 16 for goodness sakes! It wasn't as though he was used to this sort of thing, no where close! He'd almost starved! Like that would have helped his Mom!
'I was still in New York, infiltrating the FBI, things hadn't been going too well. There was an agent, just one agent who was on to me. I dunno how he'd found out, or even how he'd got so close but he walked in on me at my job one day, just like a normal guy and we got involved.' Serena blushed as she remembered. 'He seemed normal, we were even gonna move in with each other-' Kyle grimaced inwardly, jealousy flooding his senses. '-but then I found a gun in his jacket pocket at dinner when he lent me his coat. He knew I'd worked it out and he dragged me into an ally with a gun pointed at me. Just as he pulled the trigger some idiot ran down the ally right in front of me, getting shot instead. Enter Adam Sheldon.'
Adam grinned sheepishly as everyone looked at him in amazement, 'I wasn't a very good pick pocket at that point, the guy was chasing me! It turned out that the ally was the easiest escape! Or at least I thought so, it proved slightly different!'
'The agent freaked out and tried to run, I blasted him with my powers, he died. Adam was just lying on the ground in front of me, bleeding to death, I didn't know what to do! I never was a great healer and people were just coming down the end of the ally cos they'd hard the gun. So I opened a portal and took him back to Antar.'
'I thought I'd died!' Adam chuckled. 'There were bright lights and strange people all around me, oh, and a large silver hand print on my chest!'
'So who healed you?' asked Maria with interest.
'I did,' said Serena. 'With help.'
'After that I had very few secrets from you!' said Adam quietly.
'We vowed to help each other, I'd help him find his brother and he'd help me find the royal family of Antar. He came with me to Roswell.'
'I think she got the better deal,' muttered Adam.
Kyle grinned at him, he liked this guy, if only he wasn't sitting quite so close to Serena! 'So what happened then?'
'Well that's where the confusing story starts!' sighed Adam. He felt a little better now that people were starting to believe him, perhaps this didn't all have to be as hard as he had tried to make it!
'Somehow I think the last part was confusing enough!' groaned Maria.
'So why should we believe you?' asked Liz.
Everyone turned to her in astonishment. Not believe?
Perhaps I spoke too soon! Thought Adam, his heart sinking back down to his boots.