Homecoming, Part 4a: "Three and a half weeks"
Author: Chris Kenworthy
Email: Chris_Kenworthy@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: No, I don't own any of the Roswell characters. I don't plan to steal them and lock them up in white rooms either. I just let them out to play from time to time and see what happens.
Distribution: Distribute anywhere you like, currently based at fanatics: http://www.roswellfanatics.net/
Feedback: YES PLEASE!
Category: Alternate timeline epic. Conventional couples angst leading up to UC in later parts - you have been warned!
Rating: PG-13, for now
Summary: Alien mysteries lead to an interesting year...
Spoilers: Up to 'Ask not'
Section 3: The Mexican tango
(October 20 2001.)
"Hey, guys, come on inside!!" The faint voice clued Alex in that the limo had stopped again - this time outside the familiar DeLucca homestead. The owner of the voice had been fairly easily identifiable as Amy DeLucca. Of course she would want the dance festivities to come to her in this small way, and not the other way around. Alex, Max, and Michael piled out of the car and tramped up the walk.
"Oooh, don't you guys look handsome..." Amy cooed as they passed the threshold. "Alex... very sharp, nice suit... Michael..." Maria's mother could only shake her head at Michael's choice of threads. "Maria, they're here!!"
Maria made the traditional appearance down the front stairs. Her light brown hair was currently straight and fell down just short of her shoulders in a simple but dramatic and beautiful style. She was wearing an emerald green ball gown which was strapless and flowed down fluidly to about mid-calf, not quite meeting the laces of her ice-green leather heels. Her smile lit up the alien room as she headed over to Alex and wrapped her arms around him in a friendly hug. "Are you going to ask her?" she whispered quietly.
Alex ignored that. "Maria, you look gorgeous."
"Thank you." With a curtsey, Maria moved along to Max, presenting her hand for a shake. "Mister Evans... always a pleasure." Once the handshake was done, she came finally to Michael, "And my spaceboy." She leaned in close and planted a sweet, soft kiss on his cheek. "You'll always be my first true love."
"Have a great time, you guys," Amy called out, beaming from the living room doorway. "But not *too* great..."
"Wee wonn't," Maria called back in singsong, and Amy DeLucca caught the hint, gushed wordlessly one more time, and headed up the stairs.
"So, what now?" Maria asked, turning to the three guys. "We all head back to that big stretch limo?"
"There's no hurry," Michael teased her, "we're running ahead of schedule. Even though Allie-boy here has got us all talking about 'the old days' of about a year ago."
"Oh," Maria said, and then jumped as a thought struck her. "You did the labyrinth without me, didn't you, Michael Guerin?!!"
"Yeah, I'm sorry, we did," Max confirmed. "And of course, after labyrinth day came the 'Three and a half weeks...'"
* * * * *
(October 25 2000.)
"So, Mister 'Moral objections' caved?" Michael asked softly as Alex finished dealing out the cards.
"Yeah," Alex agreed in a matching whisper. The deal done, he picked up his own ten cards and started to sort them. "Max made the switch." He pulled the little piece of white string out of his pocket, and as it came it pulled the little 'washer' of metal that it had been looped through.
"Don't make a big deal," Maria warned her boyfriend. "Max had his reasons for not being wild about this plan."
Michael nodded and let the 'Mister morality' bit drop. "Can I have a look at it, Alex?"
"After bidding," he replied. "It's your turn."
"Huh?" Caught by surprise, Michael actually looked at his cards for the first time after picking them up. "Um... six diamonds," he called out after a second.
"Pass," Maria chimed with the longsuffering of a girl who firmly believed herself to be unlucky with cards. (*And* until recently, unlucky in love.)
"Hmm..." For a second Alex considered leaving Michael in his probably-ill-conceived bet, but that impulse didn't last long. "Seven clubs."
"Can't fight you on that," Michael replied, holding out his hand. Alex handed over the alien washer, (wondering if Michael would gasp in shock when he first touched it - if the alien device would 'connect' to Michael,) and picked up the three face-down cards that consitituted his widow.
By the time Alex had chosen his discards and his opening lead, Michael had finished his examination of the alien device, and it was clear as he handed it back to Alex that he had had no remarkable experience from it. "So, have you gotten any good 'ZAP' from it yet?" Michael asked as he laid down the joker with relish, trumping Alex's left bower.
"Not yet," Alex replied, watching as Michael led the queen of diamonds and Maria played low. "I think my brain may still be recovering from the jolt I took to get you guys out of the maze." He played a king and gathered in his first trick. "Any day now."
For about a minute the developing hand of 'five hundred' occupied the three of them to the exclusion of any alien-related conversation. At the next table, Isabel, Kyle, and Tess were also getting into the parlour game of the week. The third table was unoccupied on this occasion.
"Okay, I guess the thing I'm wondering is," Michael asked as he stole Alex's lead away a second time, "what are we supposed to be doing now? Well, Alex, from what your future self, (or the guy who Maria thought was your future self,) said, we have three and a half weeks until Maria finds the lost alien book. What do we do between now and then?" Michael finally picked a card to lead. "Sit around and play 'five hundred'?"
"No, Michael," Maria said as she played her last trump on Michael's low heart, (and giggled when Alex was forced to play the queen of hearts on top of it.) "Assuming that our alien opponents don't try anything, this is a period of quiet preparation. We lay the groundwork for the challenges yet to come - particularly the unpleasant groundwork."
"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Michael snapped, dropping the queen of spades on Alex's ten of clubs. "And why does it sound like you guys have been discussing this without me?"
"Well we have," Alex admitted. "No conspiracy to freeze you out, just a few idle conversations when you were't present."
"And... ?" Michael prompted.
"Max suggested... and we agree, that one of the things we could all be doing to get ready is to work on our classes at school," Alex explained. "None of us know when the next crisis may send us gallivanting out across the state or even further. Missing school is going to be that much less of an issue if we're all three days ahead of the rest of our classes, instead of a week behind."
"And the *we* who agree is?" Michael grumped.
"Me, Alex, Isabel," Maria explained. "I don't know if Liz had been told about this or what her reaction is..."
"Come on," Michael chided. "Even *I* know what her reaction is going to be." He sighed. "And you're right - I don't like the prospect but I see the point."
"It won't be so bad, honey," Maria told her sweetie. "God knows I'm not at my best when it comes to schoolwork either, but we've got some very brainy people in the circle who will be happy to help their disadvantaged friends out. Right, Alex?!"
"That's seven clubs," Alex summarized, avoiding the question. "I've made my bid at one-hundred and sixty points. Michael, you took two tricks, and Maria took one, at ten points each, so ten for Maria and twenty for Michael." He noted the figures down on a scoring sheet. "Your deal, Michael?"
Michael took the playing cards and started shuffling them with certain poor grace. "Is this a real game Alex?"
"Oh, yeah," Alex assured him. "It's really big in Australia. Or at least it used to be."
The look on Michael's face was priceless.
* * * * *
(October 26 2000.)
"Hey, Kyle!" Maria called as soon as she saw the familiar face walk through the front door of the cafe, (in a manner of speaking.) Kyle Valenti seemed to sigh as he headed over to the table where Maria was sitting.
Maria was wearing her street clothes - she wasn't on shift right now, just an ordinary patron. Kyle pulled back the chair opposite Maria and took a seat. "So, what's all this about?"
"Whoops!" Maria giggled. "Didn't mean to be mysterious about it, Kyle. I just thought that I'd like to treat you to lunch, as a small way of saying 'thank you.'"
"Thank you?!" That had obviously caught Kyle by surprise.
Maria shrugged. "Well, yeah. I've heard about how you pitched in to help Michael and me get out of that space/time labyrinth. From everyone else, it kinda goes without saying by now, but you're not really part of our circle, Kyle. You didn't have to spend all evening lending your energy to proctoring the maze, so I wanted to make sure to thank you." Maria had been watching Kyle's face as she said this. "Nobody else even mentioned this, did they?"
"Well, Tess mentioned something... but not in so many words, no. You're very welcome, Maria." He nodded solemnly. "Greater glory has no man than this -- that he lie down his Monday evening for his friends." Maria exploded into laughter.
"Cool," Maria replied once she had breath to talk. "By the way, I've got thirty bucks, so you can't like order EVERYTHING on the menu." Kyle chuckled. "So, what's been up in your life lately, Kyle Valenti??"
"Not much," Kyle admitted, scanning the menu. "Mrs. Bloomberg is driving me *crazy* with these research assignments. Dad's been bugging me about taking an after-school job he wants to set up. Desk work down at the station - helping to file police reports and god-knows-what. And well it comes down to what *really* matters - hunting for dates - well, 'The luck has been poor this month, dances-with-aliens.'" Kyle dropped into his best native impression voice for that last phrases. Maria broke out laughing.
Then Doris came by to take their order, and once she was done Maria started explaining her theory of how teachers over-assign homework because they don't want their students to have better social lives than they do.
* * * * *
(October 27 2000.)
Max raced out of the Jeep, pounded up the steps to his house, and yanked a key ring out of his pocket. He didn't quite have a good enough grip, and the keys clattered to the porch step with a couple of tiny ringing tones. "Damnit, Iz!!"
Max squatted down, scooped up the ring, and finally got his house key in the front door lock. A few quick, practiced twists, and he was inside.
*Why* did Isabel have to ask him to go pick up her Chemistry books? Well yeah, she and Alex and Tess had arranged to start practicing mentalics further tonight. But Max was supposed to pick up Liz in about two minutes, so for all practical purposes he was already late and would be VERY late if he couldn't find the damn textbook. Where was it??
She said she'd left it in the living room. And why was it so dark in here?? Max's parents always left a light on in every part of the house if they were going to be out all night... 'to discourage the burglars,' his mom said. But the lights were all out and the drapes were pulled. "What's going on here??"
"Just a surprise change of plans, good lookin'!!" With those words, the sliding doors to the dining room parted and a soft, yellowish light spread through the opening. Candlelight. And a slender sillhouette outlined against the candlelight, that Max suddenly suspected would match the voice.
"Liz?" Max headed forward and to the side to get a better look as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Yes, it was Liz - curls of dark hair cascading down past her shoulders (he had known that she was getting a perm last night but had hardly had a chance to get a good look at it today at school.) She was wearing a little black dress and a smile lit up her already-gorgeous face. "Wow, you look incredible... and I am obviously underdressed." Max waved self-consciously at his t-shirt and jeans.
"Don't worry about it," Liz assured him. "I just felt like dressing up. On the other hand, if you wanted to go up to your room and QUICKLY throw on nice shirt and pants, and maybe a sport coat, I wouldn't stop you." She laughed softly. "But really that would just delay dinner."
"Dinner?" Max looked past Liz into the dining room. The table was set with ornate candelabras in the centerpiece and fancy dishes, covered serving platters, the whole nine yards. "Just how much trouble did you go to to set this up Liz?"
"Don't worry about it." Liz chuckled. "I just wanted to make you a nice dinner because I loved you, and... well, some friends wanted to help out and things snowballed a little from there, but it's nice, don't you think?" She giggled nervously, the soft pink blush of embarassment only narrowly visible on her face in the dim yellowish light, and somehow Max treasured it more for that.
"It's incredible. Thank you, and thank 'the friends' for me too, okay?" Max felt like a goofy smile was plastered over his face. He bent down slightly and kissed Liz, trying to let her feel all the love he held in his heart for her.
A few Liz-flashes popped into Max's mind. Liz out on her balcony, writing in her journal - he couldn't place it any closer than that. Riding with him in the Jeep on the old highway -- oh, that was probably just before the accident that put him in the hospital. That night out in the desert, when they found the first orb.
Max broke off the kiss and looked into Liz's incredible brown eyes, shining with just a hint of tears that Max certainly hoped were due to happiness and not sorrow. "Did... did you get a flash just then?"
"No... why?" Liz's confusion turned to play-acting resentment. "Why... what did *you* get?" She pouted dangerously at him.
"Just you, Liz Parker," Max whispered reassuringly. "Only you." That, at least, brought a smile back to Liz's face. "So, what's for dinner?"
"Well, let's see..." Liz led him over to a seat at the table and started busying herself with the platters on the table. "I'm going to be trying all of your favorites tonight, Max... grilled cayenne peppers in a sugar cream sauce... ahh yes, here - maple curry halibut, Linguine with your mom's special thickened tabasco gravy and corn syrup... and... a surprise for desert." Liz grinned wickedly at him.
"Oh, god..." Max winced. "How did you find all this out - Isabel again?"
"Pretty much," Liz confessed. "And your mom's 'kitchen box.' Don't be embarassed, Max - this is the kind of stuff you like, right?"
"Well, yeah... kind of." Max shook his head slightly. "I dunno, I guess I've found the 'sweet and spicy' kick only takes me so far anymore. I'd have liked to try *your* favorite foods."
"Oh." For a moment Liz was crestfallen, and then she put on a resolve face. "Well, THAT will have to wait for another night, when *you're* doing the detective work - AND the cooking! That's fair, isn't it??" She smiled across at him, taking her own seat.
"You've got a deal," Max promised. "Well, let's get started - pass those peppers over!"
For a minute they were busy with the trivialities of getting a meal started. And then after Liz had eaten her third pepper slice (and still making odd faces with them, Max noticed,) Liz asked "So... umm, how've you been? I mean, I feel like we've hardly gotten a chance to talk over the past few days."
"Yeah..." Max agreed. "Between serving tutoring duty, trying to pull ahead in my OWN classes, working after school with Brody, and that damn fool debate team -- busy but okay." Max kind of regretted having joined his one extracurricular activity for the year... he had signed up just after school started, when he seemed to have a lot of spare time and not much to do besides obsessing over the fact that Liz didn't seem to want to be with him any more.
Now, of course, he and Liz had reconciled, time was at a premium, and Max hadn't quite figured out how to quit the squad without disappointing his father. (Who, it turned out, had been captain of debate teams from sophomore year in high school all the way through to Stanford Law, and was delighted that Max was following in his footsteps...)
"Yeah, I hear you," Liz agreed. "Helping Maria out with her chemistry class, working evenings at Whittaker's office, and the science club." She sighed. "I'm glad we were able to get our schedules together, for at least one night."
"It won't just be one night," Max assured her. "Things'll settle down soon, I hope." He started on the fish, and something else occured to him. "I finally found a copy of that cave map, from River Dog's. Alex wants a whole bunch of us to get together, to go over it. Michael, and me, at least, and... Tess." He hated even saying the name to her. "Do you want to come along too?"
"No, Max," Liz shook her head. "I don't need to chaperone every time you and Tess are in a room together, I trust you. Besides, if you dragged me along, it might just make her suspicious." A beat. "*Speaking* of which... have you thought of a way to tell the delicate and fragile Miss Harding that we're together yet?"
"Umm..." Max could feel the hot flush spreading across his cheeks. "Well, not as such, no." Big sigh. "Maybe I'm looking for something that doesn't exist - we could just blurt it out. I mean... she knows that she has to stick with us. The challenge. If all four of us don't come together, it's pointless." Liz didn't look too convinced of that reasoning. "Come on, this night is about us. Let's not talk about Tess, okay?"
"I wasn't the one who brought her up, was I?" Liz muttered. "Okay, Max, what do you want to talk about?"
They chatted about old times, and new music, until it was clear that both of them together weren't going to eat more than about a third of all the food Liz had prepared. Then there was some making out, and some groping, but it didn't go any further than that. Max loved Liz, but he also knew that this wasn't the right time to go too far, and it seemed that Liz felt the same way.
They had ended up on the couch, Max wrapping his arms around Liz, her head resting on his shoulder, and a big warm quilt wrapped around them both, when Liz stiffened all of a sudden and jerked her head up. "What?" Max asked, immediately concerned. "What is it??"
"Umm..." Liz shook her head as if to clear out the confusion. "I think I had a dream."
"You were asleep?" Max teased her, and Liz nodded sheepishly. "Well, what was the dream about?"
"I'm not sure..." Liz confessed. "There wasn't that much to it... no sight, no sound. Just a sequence of bodily sensations."
Max's eyes grew wide. "What *kind* of sensations?"
She poked an elbow into his side. "Not THAT kind of sensations, ya big galoot. I..." she closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate. "I was sitting on a chair, I think -- hands tied beside me. I reached out and... and kicked something, and suddenly the floor tipped away at an angle and I started to fall. And that's when I woke up."
"Weird," Max muttered, wrapping his arms more tightly around Liz again.
"Yeah." Liz relaxed, then tried to sit up again. "Max... what time are your parents supposed to be home?"
Max checked the clock, and remembered what his mother had said that morning. "Fifteen minutes."
Liz forced an arm out of Max's embrace and gestured to the various personal items littering the living room floor and the uneaten food in the dining room. "We'd better start cleaning all this up, don't you think?"
Max sighed. "I guess you're right." He let Liz go and threw back the quilt, and as she went off to find her shoes, Max reached down and put his shirt back on.
* * * * *
(November 2 2000.)
"No... I'm sorry," Michael insisted. "Just look at this dialog. The woman has gone crazy."
"Shakespeare's using insanity as a metaphor for character growth," Maria argued back. "She's realized how meaningless the world of male ambition is and she can't come to terms with the acts of cruelty she knows she's committed. I... I feel sorry for her, actually."
"I don't!!" Michael shot back. "I mean... she nagged and henpecked Macbeth into becoming a traitor, and while he's out there fighting the final battle to protect what she wanted Lady Macbeth just gets to go crazy??"
"Macbeth wanted all that too!!"
"You guys are so lucky," Isabel commented idly. Both Michael and Maria turned to stare at her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."
"Lucky, how?" Michael couldn't help but ask.
"I dunno, it's just..." Isabel sighed as she tried to put her thoughts in order. "Every time you guys talk, even if it's just about English Lit, you have all this passion. I... sometimes I guess I'm worried that Alex and I will never have that."
"Oh." Maria muttered, suddenly embarassed.
"But I didn't mean to get us off topic," Isabel continued, going firmly back into 'tutor mode.' "Insanity as metaphor, the fate of Macbeth versus lady macbeth, both of those are good answers, and actually they'd be good topics for your three page papers. And I think that's enough Shakespeare for now..." She picked up a printed page and looked at it. "Okay, your book reports are due in two and a half weeks, have you picked your material?"
"Umm... I was thinking 'The partner,' by John Grisham?" Maria asked tentatively.
"Hmm." Isabel considered that weightily. "Yeah, I think that'd be okay for Mister Monatee. And you, Michael??"
"Umm... 'Franny and Zooey', by J D Salinger?" Michael asked. Both Maria, and to a lesser extent Isabel, stared at him in shock. "Well, I liked Catcher in the rye so much I thought I'd try it out," Michael added defensively.
"Every time I think I've got you figured out you surprise me, spaceboy," Maria whispered appreciatively.
"Yeah... um, those are both good, so... let's see, I have you on Saturday afternoon at one, so... I'd like you to bring your first drafts for the three day papers, and have at least half of your books read by then. And don't worry about the test on the first three acts of 'Macbeth.' you're both gonna do great!!" Isabel smiled with a little too much enthusiasm for Maria's taste.
* * * * *
(November 3 2000.)
"Try to concentrate on the most general description you can. You can see specific imagery from this thing, you already know that. But as long as you're looking at the trees instead of the forest, you'll miss things -- like you almost missed that monster in the labyrinth. What's the thread that ties everything together?"
Alex nodded without opening his eyes and focused. Nothing. And then, it seemed, he started to get something. "A life. One particular... alien, a young journeyman in the power. His memories, over a period beginning not long after the Royal Four were killed and ending when the ship left for earth. I... I can get some images that have to be from his childhood, but it's predominantly that... that two or three month period."
Alex sighed and opened his eyes. "I need to take a break, I've been thinking too hard. But that was a good cue, Liz. Thanks for... well, for coming here, being my sounding board. I know you've probably got other things you'd rather be doing?"
Liz smiled at Alex from his desk chair as he still sat cross-legged on the bed. "Like what?"
"Like making more time with Max??" Alex teased.
Liz sighed. "Have I been so obvious about it lately?"
"To everyone except a certain girl with the intials T.H, yeah."
Liz nodded. "Actually, he's working on a big physics paper tonight, or at least he should be. But even if he weren't... I hope the day never comes when I don't have time to help my best, oldest friend in the world."
"So Maria's good, but where does that leave me?" Alex wisecracked.
Liz looked up at that with surprise. "Is that what you think? That I'm a better friend to Maria than to you?"
Alex thought for a second, as he stretched his legs over the side of the bed. "Well, I wouldn't have put it that way, but yeah, I feel like you're closer to her than you are to me. You've known her a few years longer, you spend more time together." Alex knew he shouldn't, but the words came out of his mouth without him being able to stop them. "You told her about the whole Cszechoslovakian thing like the day you found out. I had to wait for three months."
"Oh, god." Liz rushed over and sat beside Alex on the bed. "Look, I'll admit that the circumstantial evidence looks bad," she admitted. "But I never meant it to be that way or anything. As far as I'm concerned I have TWO best friends - you and Maria. No difference. And if you ever feel that I'm not acting that way, you just let me know, okay??"
"Easier said than done," Alex pointed out. "But I'll try."
"So..." Liz shuffled down the bed to give each of them a little more space now that Alex seemed to be okay. "How are things going between you and the ice queen??"
"Glacially!" Alex shot back. "But that's okay - this thing with Isabel, we've both kind of learned to take it at its own pace. When I try to rush... bad things can happen." He sighed a little.
"You'll get there," Liz promised. "So... do you want to try some more with the doo-hickey?" She pointed at the alien washer sitting next to Alex on the bed.
"Hmmm... nah. I'll wear it to bed tonight, see if I get any good dreams." He thought for a second. "Should I set up the checker board?"
Liz laughed. "You're on."
* * * * *
(November 4 2000.)
Maria checked her watch, and then her reflection in the mirror one more time. Michael had told her to be ready at ten-thirty in the morning for an 'all day event,' and to dress 'casual hot.' (She groaned slightly at that last part, out of sheer habit.)
But she couldn't get too mad at Michael lately - her sense of sheer happiness got in the way. Michael wanted to be with her, and he was making an effort, and that made Maria feel okay about putting up with an occasional bout of 'Michael-ism.' After all, if she loved the big lug, tolerating any minor faults was the thing to do right?
She had even spent almost an hour trying to figure out what would best satisfy as 'casual hot' to Michael Guerin. She ended up wearing her 'only-for-special-occasion' designer jeans, (the ones that clung to her legs in all the right ways,) a cut-off tie-die-pattern T-shirt that showed her midriff off, and her mom's old cowboy boots. Michael didn't stand a chance!
And speaking of whom, Maria caught the unmistakeable sound of an engine smoothly dying away in the driveway. Michael was a minute or two early. Would miracles never cease?!!
Maria was so excited that she hurried out of the house to meet him. When Michael turned around and saw her, his jaw dropped and his eyes bugged out. "M-Maria. You look *INCREDIBLE!*"
"Thanks," Maria mumbled. Actually, she felt like Michael looked - he was in a tight t-shirt and jeans too - white above and black below, and there wasn't a part of the outfit that didn't hint at the handsome, muscular physique she knew was underneath. "Um -- you, you too," Maria stammered out belatedly.
"Cool," Michael replied with a quiet smile. Turning away from her for a second, he produced a second helmet, not quite a match for the one under his arm. "Well, should we hit the road babe?" he asked solicitously. "Ways to go."
He moved aside slightly, and it was the first time Maria got a clear view of the vehicle sitting in her mother's driveway. As she had expected (and as the helmet confirmed,) Michael had picked her up in the motorcycle he had acquired over the summer. (And by 'acquired', Maria meant that he had either bought the chassis thirdhand at the secondhand bike shop or rescued it from te scrap yard and decided that he could 'restore' it.)
But 'the Bike' didn't look like the last time Maria had seen it. Was it less obvious dust and rust? A few new brightly colored wheel guards and other esthetic touches?? A trace of polish and shine!? Feeling a little vague, Maria mumbled "I like what you've done to the bike, too," and plunked on the bike helmet. It had just better not mess up her hair *too* much.
Michael hadn't been kidding about his 'ways to go.' Maria only remembered that she still didn't know her final destination they passed the city limits sign on Main street. (285 South, didn't that bring back memories. But Michael hadn't taken the on-ramp to the highway.) Where *was* he taking her?
It wasn't easy to talk above the roar of a motorcycle engine while whizzing down the road and wearing a helmet, so Maria settled for wrapping her arms around Michael's body and watching the desert scenery parade past. Time seemed to lose some of its meaning, but with a start Maria realized that they must have been riding for nearly half an hour already.
"Where the czechoslovakia are we going, anyways??" she called out to Michael.
"Suprise," he reminded her maddeningly in a throaty shout. "Don't worry - we'll be there soon!"
The town of Dexter, New Mexico had just come and gone when Michael suddenly made his turn off of the main road, and quickly they were pulling into a parking lot. Other cars were pulling in and finding places all around them -- mostly families with kids, though some teenagers like them and older people. "What IS this??" Maria repeated as she got off of the bike and pulled off her helmet.
"County fair," Michael explained, pointing off to the side of the parking lot and up slightly. Above the trees Maria could see part of a Ferris wheel that had presumably been set up in a clearing on the other side of the narrow strip of forest - along with the rest of the fair, presumably. "I thought you'd like it."
"Awww..." As Michael pulled off his own helmet Maria swooped in and kissed him quickly on the lips, holding it for several seconds. Once the kiss was over Maria broke into a wide grin, and Michael just looked at her for a second, semi-stunned.
"What was th-- oh, never mind," he decided, taking her hand. "Come on, let's go. What do you want to do first?"
"Umm..." Maria thought as they walked towards the midway. "I want you to win me the best prize they have in the ring toss!!"
"Oh, boy," Michael groaned...
Of course, it wasn't quite that easy. In fact, Michael got onto a bit of an unlucky streak, and they had to wander around the midway a little while until he finally used his powers to knock down the bottle tower before Maria got her prize - she picked a pretty green crystal key ring and was thrilled with it. Then sharing some fried chicken and french fries from one of the food shacks, and they got strapped in together for a ride in the biggest roller-coaster Maria had ever seen. Michael said something about it being more fun than the labyrinth, with none of the monsters.
"Well, what now?" Michael asked, as they left the coaster exit. Maria slowed to a stop, still a little unsteady on her feet after all of the high-G motion, and looked around.
"Oh, they set up a tunnel of love somehow!!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Come on, Michael, we *have* to try it out!"
"Hmmm..." Michael considered the suggestion, and his eyes took in Maria from top to bottom all over again. "Yeah, I think that's an idea I can get behind."
It took a little while - (waiting in a line, mostly,) but finally the two of them were helped into a small, comfy boat by a discreet attendant and set loose to drift through the tunnel. Soon the dimness closed in and they might very well have been the only two people in the world - which was obviously the point.
"So... what happens now?" Michael asked, vaguely nervous. "Do we just start... doing stuff??"
"Umm..." Maria could understand how Michael felt. This seemed a little bit too much like the feeling she had heard about from makeout game parties in high school - where you were *expected* to kiss so much that it sucked all the fun out. (Maria had never been invited to those kinds of parties.)
"No... not yet, we don't have to," she assured Michael. "It's not like there are 'tunnel of love' rules. We can just sit here and talk for a while." She leaned back, snuggling into the crook of his arm.
"So..." Michael let that word hang in the air for a few long moments. "How've you been doing?"
"Me?" A loud sigh of contentment escaped Maria. "I've been great."
"You really mean that?"
Maria turned around slightly to look at the young man she had fallen in love with. "Well, yeah! No..." She caught herself and looked around carefully. Nobody seemed to be within earshot, but she couldn't be sure how far their voices would carry in this tunnel. Still - they weren't hearing sounds from any other boats, and she doubted that everybody would be completely quiet. A bit of caution would have to do.
"No 'out of this world' crises for the past almost two weeks... everybody in the gang seems to be getting along great... and then there's you, spaceboy." She dropped her voice to a throaty whisper instinctively for that last bit.
Michael smiled a wide smile. "Little ol' me?"
Something snapped a little inside of Maria at that point, and she swatted Michael soundly on the shoulder. "Stop that!"
"Hey!!" Michael protested, and then her words registered. "Stop what?! What was that for?"
"Being too sweet," Maria accused him. "That's not the rude, stubborn, son-of-a-bitch that I fell in love with." And she grinned teasingly at him.
"Really?!" Michael's eyes glinted in the dim mood lighting. "Well, I'm not the only one here who's been acting a little saccharine lately."
"Who, me??"
"No, the little gingerbread girl hiding in the far corner of the boat," Michael mocked. "Of course, you."
Maria considered that a moment, and Michael's face widened suddenly. (Was he evaluating the expression on her face the way she kept track of his mannerisms?) "Guilty as charged," she finally confessed. "I've just been so... so *happy* lately."
"And I haven't??" Michael pressed.
"Gotit," Maria nodded. "So we're agreed - we'll just have to make the ultimate sacrifice for our relationship and bitch at each other more."
"Sounds good to me, shrill and compulsive!!" Michael joked along, turning Maria around in his arms and bringing his lips to hers for a passionate kiss.
The kiss was slow, not like the one Maria had initiated in the parking lot, or the smooches they'd been trading back and forth around the fair. Luxuriant. Maria was glad that she was already lying down, because none of her muscles wanted to work the way they usually did, the way her body felt when Michael was kissing her like this. She managed to put enough effort into raising her arms to get her hands onto *Michael*'s arms, stroking them, feeling the buff lines of his skin.
Michael's hands were both at the small of her back, and when he took his lips away from hers, Maria let out a sound that seemed a mix of a sigh, a moan, and a mew - all of it dissapointed. "Don't stop, Michael -- no stopping."
Michael smiled in that infuriating way he had. "You want more of that, babe?" He waved beckoningly, sitting up beside her. "Come and get it!"
Maria took him at his word, launching herself up with an energy she hadn't realized she had thirty seconds ago, wrapping her arms tightly around Michael's neck, and kissing him as well as she knew how. It was different from the last kiss, more energetic - was that because she was the initiator this time? The difference between hers and Michael's 'kissing perconalities'? Or were serious, no-kidding-around kisses like snowflakes, no two alike?
Maria didn't waste too much energy wondering about such things, in fact, most of her concentration was razor-focused on holding Michael as tight as she could and licking at his tongue with hers. Even remembering to inhale through her nose she was starting to feel short of breath, but Maria didn't care. If she asphyxiated here in the tunnel of love, french-kissing Michael Guerin... **well, let's be honest here. What better way to check out!?**
When Michael moved his mouth away from hers a second time, Maria didn't protest. Now, she could tell from the passionate glint in his eyes that all Michael was interested in was moving on to better things. Sure enough, soon Michael's lips found their way to her neck, sucking in that way that always used to take her breath away. The way Maria was feeling right now, 'taking her breath away' seemed like a moot point, but that only heightened the effects that Michael's talented lips created througout her body as they played across the sensitive spots on her skin. The dark, water-filled tunnel was gone as far as Maria could tell, replaced by a puffy pink cloud of delerious pleasure.A current of sensation was coursing through every level of her without stopping, slowly growing more and more intense. Hotter and hotter.
And then Michael flipped up her skimpy little belly shirt, tucking it into place just under her collarbone, and started stroking at the material of her light blue cotton bra.
HHOOOOOH-MAAMMAAAA!! If Maria had thought she was in make-out heaven before, (and the thought had managed to cross her mind,) this brought everything to another level. As Michael's fingers started to fondle her chest more strongly, (and yet quite tenderly,) and his lips started to suck at her right earlobe, Maria started to become aware of a new sensation entering the mix - and a question popping into her mind.
All of the lust and energy that had been spreading throughout her body was starting to converge... at a single point, as it were, and a strong need began to build at that point. **How much further do I want to go here** Maria wondered silently as one of Michael's hands ran carressingly over her stomach. She wasn't ready to... well, you know. At least she didn't think she was. And the idea of losing her virginity (or even coming close,) in a tunnel of love at the county fair was not quite her idea of 'making it special. But the temptation to unsnap her jeans (or ask Michael to do it,) and let things proceed from there was almost overwhelming.
"Umm, uhh... excuse me?" It would be hard to say whether Maria got her shirt pulled back down before or after the blush covered her face, and Michael jumped back away from her so suddenly that the boat almost started taking on water. After staring for a long couple of seconds, Maria's vision cleared to the point where she could make out the owner of the voice - the attendant who had gotten them into the boat at the first place. Obviously, they had gotten to the end of the ride, (or maybe the beginning again, depending on how you looked at it,) and hadn't noticed.
"Ummm... I can set you off for another go round," the twentysomething man said helpfully, "but we'll have to get the boad through this channel here."
"Ohh..." Maria considered for a moment, and then got somewhat wobbily to her feet. "No, I think we're good, thanks." As much fun as 'another go round' might be, Maria suspected that she might get into something that she really wasn't ready for. Michael had at least as much trouble maintaining his balance as she did.
"Okay, uh... here we go," tunnel-guy said, helping them out of the boat one at a time. "Have a nice day at the fair. Ohh... check yourself, buddy," he whispered to Michael, so quietly that Maria could hardly hear it.
Michael looked around at himself, and blushed again. Instead of heading for the exit, he walked over and leaned against the wall as the attendant took their boad away.
Maria headed over towards him. "So... what are we doing here?"
"Umm... I dunno about you, but I'm trying to get ready to be seen in public?" Michael whispered, with a significant glance downwards.
"Oh, uh, right..." Maria muttered, blushing herself. "Gotcha."
* * * * *
(November 5 2000.)
The door cracked open, revealing a wary eye. "Come on in, Maxwell." Michael opened the door to his apartment wider. "Everyone else is already here."
Max smiled and nodded as he came in. "Thanks." After a second, he commented, "What's this I heard about you beating some college student up at the carnival?"
Michael shrugged. "Well, he was insulting Maria." Max knew he had a dubious look on his face. "Don't worry, I did my best to keep everything low-profile. It's a non-issue."
Max was about to reply, but Tess called him over to the coffee table. "Hey, Max, glad you're here -- now, can we get started??"
"I guess so." Max went over to sit in one of the living room chairs, waving hello to Alex. Michael emerged after a minute or so with a big piece of paper, a hand-drawn enlargement of the cave map. (Had Michael drawn that himself?? It was really a very good reproduction.)
"Okay, Alex," Tess said with a sardonic gleam in her eye. "Here you go. Do yer washer-y thing."
Alex ignored any edge in Tess's voice and started keenly surveying the paper. "Okay... It's a map, obviously... these icons seem to indicate particular places on the map." He gestured to about half a dozen intricate pictures, spread over the map area. "And then there are the six lines of text, written in..." he concentrated, grabbed briefly for the alien washer in his pocket, and then seemed to get it. "They're written in a very old and convoluted alphabet from your home planet - something vaguely like chinese syllable-letters."
"Okay," Michael said, pulling the couch closer (to Tess' muted surprise, since she was sitting at the other end.) "What do they say?"
"I..." Alex shook his head in frustration. "I... I don't have all the answers here."
"You don't seem to have *much,*" Tess pointed out snidely. Max shot her a glare, which seemed to quiet her down.
"Your language is huge... well, I guess most languages are huge, but this is probably bigger than most languages on earth. I... I can't sort through it all. I can't process." Alex shook his head. "I'm sorry."
"Well, let's just take it one step at a time, okay?" Max suggested calmly, and reached out to point to the first few symbols on the first line. "What's this?"
"Umm... 'Kree-tur-vant,'" Alex recited slowly.
"And what does that mean in english??" Michael asked impatiently.
"That's just the trouble," Alex growled back. "I can access a huge amount of vocabulary from this thing, but it's all hit and miss, and I can never seem to find what I want. 'Varistor' is mentalics. 'guon' is a pronoun roughly corresponding with 'she'." He pronounced the alien word almost like 'goon,' except with a slightly sharper and more intense vowel sound. "'Aditars' is a companion. 'Venrik' is the color white, but how does any of that help us??"
"It's something to start with, at least," Michael shot back. "None of us have ever been able to get as far as you've gotten, Alex. Don't quit on us now. How would the rest of that line get pronounced??"
Alex sighed and turned his attention back to the map. "Kree-turvant, eg ad itar muant. The next line begins with--"
"Wait a second!!" Tess broke in. "You just listed 'aditars' in your sample vocabulary, Alex! Is that the same as the word you listed for these three symbols?" She ran her finger along three of the symbols in the first line of the message.
"I don't... wait a second!!" Alex exclaimed. "It's not exactly the same, but it's a variant on that root meaning. I guess it would be the plural form, 'companions.' And possibly past tense." He frowned. "But why didn't *I* make that connection?"
"I think I might know," Max said. "You've got the theoretical know-how in your head, but you're human. Your brain isn't set up to make the neural associations to truly learn our language -- at least, not easily. Whereas we..."
"Yeah, I get the point," Alex broke in. Max and Michael - all of them were different. He didn't need to be reminded about that. "Well... maybe you guys should be the ones trying to read the message then, and I'll just furnish my theoretical knowledge when you need it."
"We need it all," Max laughed. "Let's start with the phonetic pronunciation of the second line." He picked up a small notepad and a piece of paper.
It took them nearly three hours, and a substantial order of barbecue chicken delivered to Michael's apartment, to finish up a reasonably accurate translation. Once it was done, Max read over it again wonderingly.
"All my companions dead,
Alone and hunted am I.
That which I could salvage,
I've hidden around this land.
When you fathom my message,
You will know where."
"It sounds a lot better in the original language," Alex assured him. "Almost poetic."
"But it doesn't tell us anything we couldn't have guessed," Michael interjected as he turned on the TV to football and turned the volume down slightly. "Presumably Nasedo wrote that long before we emerged, as an instruction in case he couldn't meet us himself. The military had killed or taken prisoner the rest of the guardians, the police and the special unit were hunting him. So he drew the map to mark anything of value he'd been able to save from the wreckage of our ship."
"Like our pods," Max repeated, seeing it. "Which is the symbol you followed to take you to the public library the night of the contest, Michael?"
"Umm..." Michael scanned over the map briefly. "This one." He pointed to a marked spot on the paper. "The same symbol that we found in the woods."
Max stared at Michael for a second. "Umm, Michael?? That *isn't* the symbol that was in Frazier woods."
"It's not?"
"No - the symbol from Frazier woods was the whirlpool, the same symbol that was on Atherton's necklace and the orbs. THIS --" And Max pointed to the map too, "is the planet-with-ring symbol -- the same one that was on the book from the..." and that's when it hit Max. "From the library."
"You followed the wrong symbol, Michael?" Tess observed.
"Hey, it could happen to anybody," Alex said. "Well, let's see... if the planet-with-ring is the library, and the four-square is the pod chamber, then the REAL whirlpool symbol would mark..." He frowned, trying to work it out in his head.
"Of course!!" Max exclaimed. "That's the old radio tower by Highway forty-two -- where Liz and I found the first orb. Which was marked with the whirlpool symbol."
"Okay," Michael said. "So, we've got three symbols accounted for so far... four left - this mountainy-looking thing, the row of little blocks..."
"I think maybe they're supposed to be cells, Michael."
"The big whirling circle that is maybe supposed to be a galaxy, and... a wheel segmented in five parts. Hey, isn't this..."
"Just like the one River dog used to heal you," Max finished. "And... yeah, the balance wheel icon is in the Mesaliko reservation. Where the map itself was... but I guess that's not a big problem." He sighed, looking at the map. "Three more caches of stuff that Nasedo was able to save from the crash. I wonder what might be there?"
"Hey," Alex piped up. "How did you know to go to the library to get the book anyway, Tess?"
"Ed told me about it," she said, confirming Alex's guess. "He didn't tell me to take it, just that it was there. I... well, I wanted something to draw Max out, since he seemed to be avoiding me."
Somehow nobody had an immediate reply to that.
* * * * *
(November 9 2000.)
Isabel turned Max's jeep behind a rocky outcropping and parked it there. "Okay, here we are."
Alex looked around. "And where is 'here' specifically?" The area looked a little familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. Isabel had nabbed him at the start of lunch period (which was now almost half over, they had been driving so long,) and not said a word about where they were going. Alex had gone along with it, not particularly interested in 'ruining her surprise.'
"You'll see," Iz said, pulling him in for a quick kiss, and then jumping out of the car. Alex followed as she led him up a craggy foot-path on another desert hill.
It hit Alex where he remembered this place from about three-quarters of the way up - when Max had shown him the pod chamber. "What's going on?" he blurted out. "Is something wrong?"
"No, I'd say something's right," Isabel assured him cryptically. Sure enough, she stopped at that unassuming rock face and waved her hand in the same spot that Max had. The glowing silver handprint emerged in the rock, as before, except this time Alex could sweat that it exactly matched Isabel's hand - right down to the long and slender fingers. She pressed her hand into the mark and like magic, the passageway opened before them.
"Come on in," Isabel said, stepping over the threshold. Alex followed her in uncertainly.
"Did you take me up here just to show me the pod chamber?" he couldn't help but blurt out. "Because I hate to steal your thunder, but Max already took me here, remember??"
"No, I didn't take you up here to 'show it to you,'" Isabel said, turning around to look him in the eyes. "I brought you up here for a picnic lunch!!" She waved down to the floor of the chamber, where surely enough a picnic basket was sitting, waiting for them.
"A picnic lunch," Alex repeated. "Here??"
"Why not?" Isabel shuffled over to the wall, touching a particular spot on it, and the doorway closed in on them. But the air inside seemed fresh and cool, and the light from the glowing ceiling seemed yellowish and blueish at the same time without becoming green. "No-one will disturb us here, at least."
Alex shrugged and smiled. "I guess I can't argue with that." He grabbed Isabel's hand and walked her over to the basket. "So when did you set all of this up? This morning before school??"
"Yeah," Isabel confirmed as they sat down. "Don't worry, I put ice packs into the basket to make sure that nothing went bad. A little trick I learned from mom."
"Oh yeah," Alex said, rifling through the basket. "Ice cold pasta and meat sauce. Great trick."
Isabel just waved a hand at the plastic container Alex had brought out of the basket, and suddenly it was hot enough that he almost dropped it. "Could you toss me a seven up and a tuna sandwhich, please?"
Alex did. "I keep forgetting that you can pull stunts like that."
They chatted about small stuff over the first course, schoolwork and the other members of the gang and family situations. After rooting around in the basket again and taking half of a chicken sandwhich, Alex changed the subject.
"Isabel, have you... thought any, about what this challenge means?? I mean... if we can pull it off, that means in less than a year you're going to be on your home planet, and we don't know if any of you will be able to come back."
"I dunno, I'm trying to just take it one step at a time," Isabel admitted. "I mean, it's a lot to grasp all at once." She cocked her head prettily at him. "Are you thinking about what will happen to us when I go?"
Alex smiled sheepishly, knowing that he was probably blushing. "I was trying very hard to avoid putting it in those terms, but yeah." He sighed loudly. "I mean, I *know* that we aren't really that serious, yet - but sue me, I have high hopes."
Isabel put her drink down and took Alex's hand. "Alex -- I love you too." Her eyes were locked onto his like a laser targeting scope. "And if there's any way -- I would love to take you across the galaxy with me, so that we can be together."
Alex gulped. "Do... do you really mean that, Isabel?"
She paused for a moment in self-reflection. "Yeah, I really really do!" And then, all of a sudden, it seemed as if she had launched herself at him like a... well, cliche intended, like a rocket ship. Her arms wrapped around Alex's chest and her lips found his like a guided warhead. The chicken sandwich was getting squashed somewhere between them, but nobody cared.
Isabel had initiated the kiss, but Alex could see that she was signalling him to take the driver's seat. (As it were.) That was fine with him - he felt like Isabel was always the one who was kissing him - (mostly because he never felt very certain of the reaction he'd get if he tried to make the first move. Maybe that would be different, after this.) He pushed his tongue between Isabel's lips, and the sensation when it met hers was incredible. They kissed french-style for about a minute, and then Alex moved away.
With one hand he carefully brushed Iz's golden-honey hair away from her right ear, and then bent in to kiss her on the earlobe. Isabel moaned quietly. "You're so beautiful," Alex whispered in her ear.
Alex saw a catlike smile slowly spread across Isabel's face. "Really?"
He hadn't really thought of that as anything but completely obvious. "Of course."
"What's the most beautiful thing about me?" she purred. Ahh, so that was the deal here, was it?
"Well, now, that's a tough one," Alex teased back flirtingly, planting a quick peck on her cheek. "There's your incredible heart, which has so much love for everybody who's become a part of your life..." he readjusted position slightly to look her straight in the eyes, "and there's your incredible rich brown eyes... so deep that a guy could get lost in them. He'd just keep staring deep into their amazing depths, and bit by bit -- he'd fall in, and never again know or care about the world he was leaving behind."
Isabel laughed throatily at that - Alex had to admit it had a high corniness factor, but so what? "Is that all?" she flirted back at him.
"Hmmm..." Alex kissed at Isabel's neck and gave her a playful once-over glance. "Let's see... there's your pretty blonde hair... your sense of humour... and those sweet -- lush... lips..." and Alex started passionately kissing her again.
"Alex..." Isabel moaned around their merging lips. "Touch me. Please..."
Touch her?? For a second, Alex didn't understand what she was talking about. And then a sudden flash of imagery popped into his mind. Alex's eyes popped open instantly - Iz's were still closed, but somehow he couldn't doubt that she had just used his mentalic talent on him.
Alex reached out and started stroking his hand across the front of Isabel's blouse. "Oh, yeah," she moaned. Alex started rubbing the luscious curves harder, though still tenderly, and grinned when he saw Isabel's eyes start to glaze over with pleasure. Soon his fingers found a hardening point, and started massaging into it. Isabel's moaning grew louder -- and louder --- and stopped with a contented sigh.
Alex looked over at Isabel with a pleasantly scandalized grin on his face, and found a very similar expression on her face. As they disengaged, Alex started rooting around inside the picnic basket.
"Dessert, anyone?" he asked. Isabel's eyes widened.
"No, I meant... do you want a pudding cup??" Alex clarified.
* * * * *
(November 12 2000.)
He knocked three times on Isabel's bedroom door and waited.
"Who is it?" Before the visitor could make up his mind how to answer, the door swung open. "Michael! You didn't tell me you would be coming by!"
"That's the way it goes," he said, catching hold of Isabel's fingers lightly. "Avoiding reality day."
Isabel gasped. This was a tradition that hadn't been played out between them for years - since freshman year, at least. "Why now?"
"Are you telling me you *aren't* a little stressed?" Michael asked with a bit of a twinkle in his eye. He didn't list out the possible sources of stress -- it wouldn't be in the spirit of avoiding reality (let's see, there was schoolwork to the max, alien assasins still on the loose, and a deadline looming over their heads...) But Isabel got the picture.
"Just let me change into something a little more 'young and reckless', okay??" She winked at Michael and closed the door again.
"Where are we going?!" Isabel yelled into Michael's ear as his motorcycle zoomed them down Baldon road. Michael didn't answer, and Iz couldn't see his face, but she could have sworn from the slight shrug he made that he wanted to grin tauntingly at her.
By the time Michael had turned off the main road and pulled the motorcycle off at the point where the path changed from paved concrete to packed dirt, though, Isabel knew the score. Michael took off his helmet, looked back at Isabel, and delivered that teasing smile. "Well, here we are."
Iz climbed off the bike and pulled off her own helmet. "Yep, we are here," she confirmed. "And there we go," she concluded, pointing at the leftward branch of the fork in the path up ahead, which led up Danning's hill. "Whatcha gonna do about the bike though? Wouldn't want one of them crazy junior high kids making off with it."
"Not to worry." Michael concentrated, and a wall of foliage dropped from the nearby trees to wrap up the motorcycle. It would be hard to notice the vehicle like that, and practically impossible to get it free without alien powers.
"Somebody's been learning a few new tricks," Isabel commented with a wide smile. "Are you sure those vines won't hurt the bike any? No, I take the question back - of *course* you're sure or you wouldn'ta tried it huh?" Michael nodded, taking the jibe with good grace.
He searched his mind for a conversation starter as the two of them started along the path. Most of the things he could think of to say to Isabel didn't really fall under the guidelines for 'avoiding reality.' Finally Michael just blurted out "Free association!! Blue."
Isabel smiled briefly while thinking of a response. "Gold."
"Treasure,"
"Ring."
"Phone!"
"Number," Isabel replied with a grin.
'Math' flashed through Michael's mind, but free association or not, he couldn't bring himself to say the word on an avoiding reality day. Isabel shot over a sidelong glance, probably wondering what was keeping him, and Michael's mind blanked. "Um, uhh... prisoner," he finally managed to dredge up.
Isabel seemed doubtful of the connection there, so Michael felt honor-bound to defend it. "'I will not be filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, de-briefed, or *numbered,'" he quoted. "'My life is my own!' THAT prisoner."
"Okay, fine," Iz retorted, trying to make it seem as if she hadn't forced him into that little recitation. "Prisoner... castle."
"Princess," Michael shot back as he started over the rise of the hill.
"Hero," Isabel blurted out, blushing slightly.
"Destiny," Michael answered, and then stopped short. Isabel was staring at him, wide-eyed. "I... I can't believe I just said that," he said quickly. "You don't have to respond to it if you don't want to."
"No, it's okay," she assured him. "Destiny... bad!"
Michael laughed softly. "Good."
"Great."
"View!!" Sure enough, the two of them were just getting to the point where they could look down from the clifflike heights of Danning's hill to Liberty park spreading below them. Isabel smiled at took her old spot from years gone by, leaning her back against a tree and soaking it all in. The game was forgotten now - that was as good a point as any to end it on.
Liberty park was where the Crash festival was held every year. About fifteen feet below the place where Michael was standing, in fact, was the carved out niche where a mockup alien ship perched until the height of the festival, when carefully arranged firecrackers shot it out of the rock face and swinging down a steel cable towards its doom, in a grisly (Michael had always thought,) commemoration of the Roswell Incident.
But that slightly squicky association hadn't been enough to keep this hilltop from being a favorite hangout of Michael and Isabel - and Max too - when they were young. Partly because of the incredible view of the park and Roswell itself that Danning's hill offered.
Michael looked over at Isabel. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing deeply, as if she could appreciate the vista beneath them better if she didn't actually bother looking at it. (The way she was spending so much time training senses beyond the human capacity, maybe she *could* at that.)
"When we were in the fourth grade," Michael said all of a sudden, "I used to daydream about a flying saucer coming back for us, right here." Isabel opened her eyes again and followed Michael's gesture, covering a huge swath of space near the overlook and above the park far below. "So big you almost couldn't see all of it. And they'd bring the three of us aboard with some kinda cool tractor beam thing, you and me and Maxwell, and our parents would be on board. And their friends and all our relatives and some cool alien kids about our own age. And they'd all throw a big party in our honor while the flying saucer headed for home at hyper-speed."
Isabel was smiling widely. "That's a nice daydream, even still."
Michael nodded slowly. "Yeah. But the sad reality is it's not gonna be that easy, is it?"
"Michael!" Isabel swatted him on the arm. "What is it we're supposed to be avoiding today?"
"Sorry." They stayed there for a long timee, just looking down at the park.
"Ya wanna go to the mall and set off sprinklers??" Isabel asked suddenly.
Michael thought for a second. "Yah, what the heck."
Isabel grabbed Michael's hand for no good reason he could see, and he didn't say anything about it or push it away. A long moment and a half later, Iz took it back herself, and smiled at him in the same old way she always had.
* * * * *
(November 14 2000.)
"Mercury roaster with tomato and relish, green cheese mash, and a pepsi," Liz recapped as she slid the food onto the table. "Anything else?"
"Not a thing," Alex assured her with a smile.
"Okay." Liz smiled to, and left, but when Alex looked up after taking the first bite of his megaburger she was standing near his table again, looking faintly nervous. "What is it, Liz?" he asked softly.
"Are you expecting anyone, Alex?" Liz stalled, looking around. "Iz??"
"Nah," Alex sighed. "My darling Isabel is taking a well-deserved night of vegging in front of the television. First a quick trip to Capeside, and then she'll swing by new york and catch up with Felicity."
"Sounds nice," Liz said, slipping into the booth across from Alex. "You didn't want to join in?"
"Nah... I may drop in later. But I'm not particularly in the mood for all the..." Alex searched for the mot juste, "intensity of a night of teenage soap opera. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I think so," Liz said, nodding. "Listen. My dad's been bugging me to mention something to you, but it never seemed like the right time."
Alex blinked in surprise, his curiosity piqued. "Really, what?"
"Well, remember how you and Maria were telling me about going and performing at that open mike night?"
It took Alex a moment to place the reference. "Yeah. I've been meaning to talk to Maria about setting up a time to do that again, but with the big schoolwork push and everything else that's been going on..."
Liz interrupted Alex's big ramble. "My dad's thinking about starting a live music thing here at the crashdown, and he needs some regular performers who'll do their thing for next to nothing, to start. How'd you feel about playing here in exchange for some free food?"
Alex blinked in surprise. "I feel pretty good about it. But what about Maria, does she know?"
"Not yet." Liz shook her head. "Since my dad hasn't had any luck in two years convincing Maria to so much as sing in front of him, he thought I should run this by you first. Then we can work together to convince Maria just in case."
Alex grinned. "Sounds cool, I'm in." Liz smiled back, and stood up as she noticed Michael waving her over from the kitchen window.
"Gotta go, order's up. Oh, and you might have to deal with my dad's musical preferences. See ya!!"
Alex smiled and took a bite of his mashed potatoes, which had started to cool. "What the heck does *that* mean??"
* * * * *
(November 16 2000.)
Michael intercepted Liz as Max was walking her to her first class. "Did you talk to her this morning?" he asked in a low voice.
There was no need to ask who 'her' referred to. "No, I haven't," Liz sighed. "And I don't think any of us need to be bugging her, or just calling to say hi, or asking how she's doing more than usual. She's feeling the pressure already and it's still early."
"Yeah," Max weighed in softly. "It's only just coming up on three weeks and three days. 'Three and a haf weeks' is vague enough that it could mean at any time in the next two and a half days."
Michael sighed a sigh that was only half of a groan. "I know," he whispered. "I'm just nervous about this message-from-the-future stuff. I mean, what we learned on Labyrinth day has changed all of our lives over the past few weeks. What is Maria's life has changed enough that she doesn't find it? What if none of us ever do."
"Relax," Liz urged the teenage alien. "Future Alex would have taken all that into consideration. He knows where the book is, and if he told Maria to just wait instead of telling her where it was, it must be somewhere where its discovery by us is pretty inevitable. If not now, then soon."
"Plus, it's not like the timelines have really changed," Max pointed out. "The timeline Future Alex came from is one where you and Maria got a message from him. How else did he know where to find you guys?" Michael seemed doubtful about that.
"Maria!!" Liz called out suddenly. Sure enough, she was heading straight towards the three of them.
"You can stop talking about me," Maria groused sourly as soon as she was within range. "Good news is, I've found the damn book. Bad news is, my mother's had it all this time!!"
Liz looked from Maria to Michael and then Max - the shock on their faces echoed what she felt.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Author: Chris Kenworthy
Email: Chris_Kenworthy@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: No, I don't own any of the Roswell characters. I don't plan to steal them and lock them up in white rooms either. I just let them out to play from time to time and see what happens.
Distribution: Distribute anywhere you like, currently based at fanatics: http://www.roswellfanatics.net/
Feedback: YES PLEASE!
Category: Alternate timeline epic. Conventional couples angst leading up to UC in later parts - you have been warned!
Rating: PG-13, for now
Summary: Alien mysteries lead to an interesting year...
Spoilers: Up to 'Ask not'
Section 3: The Mexican tango
(October 20 2001.)
"Hey, guys, come on inside!!" The faint voice clued Alex in that the limo had stopped again - this time outside the familiar DeLucca homestead. The owner of the voice had been fairly easily identifiable as Amy DeLucca. Of course she would want the dance festivities to come to her in this small way, and not the other way around. Alex, Max, and Michael piled out of the car and tramped up the walk.
"Oooh, don't you guys look handsome..." Amy cooed as they passed the threshold. "Alex... very sharp, nice suit... Michael..." Maria's mother could only shake her head at Michael's choice of threads. "Maria, they're here!!"
Maria made the traditional appearance down the front stairs. Her light brown hair was currently straight and fell down just short of her shoulders in a simple but dramatic and beautiful style. She was wearing an emerald green ball gown which was strapless and flowed down fluidly to about mid-calf, not quite meeting the laces of her ice-green leather heels. Her smile lit up the alien room as she headed over to Alex and wrapped her arms around him in a friendly hug. "Are you going to ask her?" she whispered quietly.
Alex ignored that. "Maria, you look gorgeous."
"Thank you." With a curtsey, Maria moved along to Max, presenting her hand for a shake. "Mister Evans... always a pleasure." Once the handshake was done, she came finally to Michael, "And my spaceboy." She leaned in close and planted a sweet, soft kiss on his cheek. "You'll always be my first true love."
"Have a great time, you guys," Amy called out, beaming from the living room doorway. "But not *too* great..."
"Wee wonn't," Maria called back in singsong, and Amy DeLucca caught the hint, gushed wordlessly one more time, and headed up the stairs.
"So, what now?" Maria asked, turning to the three guys. "We all head back to that big stretch limo?"
"There's no hurry," Michael teased her, "we're running ahead of schedule. Even though Allie-boy here has got us all talking about 'the old days' of about a year ago."
"Oh," Maria said, and then jumped as a thought struck her. "You did the labyrinth without me, didn't you, Michael Guerin?!!"
"Yeah, I'm sorry, we did," Max confirmed. "And of course, after labyrinth day came the 'Three and a half weeks...'"
* * * * *
(October 25 2000.)
"So, Mister 'Moral objections' caved?" Michael asked softly as Alex finished dealing out the cards.
"Yeah," Alex agreed in a matching whisper. The deal done, he picked up his own ten cards and started to sort them. "Max made the switch." He pulled the little piece of white string out of his pocket, and as it came it pulled the little 'washer' of metal that it had been looped through.
"Don't make a big deal," Maria warned her boyfriend. "Max had his reasons for not being wild about this plan."
Michael nodded and let the 'Mister morality' bit drop. "Can I have a look at it, Alex?"
"After bidding," he replied. "It's your turn."
"Huh?" Caught by surprise, Michael actually looked at his cards for the first time after picking them up. "Um... six diamonds," he called out after a second.
"Pass," Maria chimed with the longsuffering of a girl who firmly believed herself to be unlucky with cards. (*And* until recently, unlucky in love.)
"Hmm..." For a second Alex considered leaving Michael in his probably-ill-conceived bet, but that impulse didn't last long. "Seven clubs."
"Can't fight you on that," Michael replied, holding out his hand. Alex handed over the alien washer, (wondering if Michael would gasp in shock when he first touched it - if the alien device would 'connect' to Michael,) and picked up the three face-down cards that consitituted his widow.
By the time Alex had chosen his discards and his opening lead, Michael had finished his examination of the alien device, and it was clear as he handed it back to Alex that he had had no remarkable experience from it. "So, have you gotten any good 'ZAP' from it yet?" Michael asked as he laid down the joker with relish, trumping Alex's left bower.
"Not yet," Alex replied, watching as Michael led the queen of diamonds and Maria played low. "I think my brain may still be recovering from the jolt I took to get you guys out of the maze." He played a king and gathered in his first trick. "Any day now."
For about a minute the developing hand of 'five hundred' occupied the three of them to the exclusion of any alien-related conversation. At the next table, Isabel, Kyle, and Tess were also getting into the parlour game of the week. The third table was unoccupied on this occasion.
"Okay, I guess the thing I'm wondering is," Michael asked as he stole Alex's lead away a second time, "what are we supposed to be doing now? Well, Alex, from what your future self, (or the guy who Maria thought was your future self,) said, we have three and a half weeks until Maria finds the lost alien book. What do we do between now and then?" Michael finally picked a card to lead. "Sit around and play 'five hundred'?"
"No, Michael," Maria said as she played her last trump on Michael's low heart, (and giggled when Alex was forced to play the queen of hearts on top of it.) "Assuming that our alien opponents don't try anything, this is a period of quiet preparation. We lay the groundwork for the challenges yet to come - particularly the unpleasant groundwork."
"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Michael snapped, dropping the queen of spades on Alex's ten of clubs. "And why does it sound like you guys have been discussing this without me?"
"Well we have," Alex admitted. "No conspiracy to freeze you out, just a few idle conversations when you were't present."
"And... ?" Michael prompted.
"Max suggested... and we agree, that one of the things we could all be doing to get ready is to work on our classes at school," Alex explained. "None of us know when the next crisis may send us gallivanting out across the state or even further. Missing school is going to be that much less of an issue if we're all three days ahead of the rest of our classes, instead of a week behind."
"And the *we* who agree is?" Michael grumped.
"Me, Alex, Isabel," Maria explained. "I don't know if Liz had been told about this or what her reaction is..."
"Come on," Michael chided. "Even *I* know what her reaction is going to be." He sighed. "And you're right - I don't like the prospect but I see the point."
"It won't be so bad, honey," Maria told her sweetie. "God knows I'm not at my best when it comes to schoolwork either, but we've got some very brainy people in the circle who will be happy to help their disadvantaged friends out. Right, Alex?!"
"That's seven clubs," Alex summarized, avoiding the question. "I've made my bid at one-hundred and sixty points. Michael, you took two tricks, and Maria took one, at ten points each, so ten for Maria and twenty for Michael." He noted the figures down on a scoring sheet. "Your deal, Michael?"
Michael took the playing cards and started shuffling them with certain poor grace. "Is this a real game Alex?"
"Oh, yeah," Alex assured him. "It's really big in Australia. Or at least it used to be."
The look on Michael's face was priceless.
* * * * *
(October 26 2000.)
"Hey, Kyle!" Maria called as soon as she saw the familiar face walk through the front door of the cafe, (in a manner of speaking.) Kyle Valenti seemed to sigh as he headed over to the table where Maria was sitting.
Maria was wearing her street clothes - she wasn't on shift right now, just an ordinary patron. Kyle pulled back the chair opposite Maria and took a seat. "So, what's all this about?"
"Whoops!" Maria giggled. "Didn't mean to be mysterious about it, Kyle. I just thought that I'd like to treat you to lunch, as a small way of saying 'thank you.'"
"Thank you?!" That had obviously caught Kyle by surprise.
Maria shrugged. "Well, yeah. I've heard about how you pitched in to help Michael and me get out of that space/time labyrinth. From everyone else, it kinda goes without saying by now, but you're not really part of our circle, Kyle. You didn't have to spend all evening lending your energy to proctoring the maze, so I wanted to make sure to thank you." Maria had been watching Kyle's face as she said this. "Nobody else even mentioned this, did they?"
"Well, Tess mentioned something... but not in so many words, no. You're very welcome, Maria." He nodded solemnly. "Greater glory has no man than this -- that he lie down his Monday evening for his friends." Maria exploded into laughter.
"Cool," Maria replied once she had breath to talk. "By the way, I've got thirty bucks, so you can't like order EVERYTHING on the menu." Kyle chuckled. "So, what's been up in your life lately, Kyle Valenti??"
"Not much," Kyle admitted, scanning the menu. "Mrs. Bloomberg is driving me *crazy* with these research assignments. Dad's been bugging me about taking an after-school job he wants to set up. Desk work down at the station - helping to file police reports and god-knows-what. And well it comes down to what *really* matters - hunting for dates - well, 'The luck has been poor this month, dances-with-aliens.'" Kyle dropped into his best native impression voice for that last phrases. Maria broke out laughing.
Then Doris came by to take their order, and once she was done Maria started explaining her theory of how teachers over-assign homework because they don't want their students to have better social lives than they do.
* * * * *
(October 27 2000.)
Max raced out of the Jeep, pounded up the steps to his house, and yanked a key ring out of his pocket. He didn't quite have a good enough grip, and the keys clattered to the porch step with a couple of tiny ringing tones. "Damnit, Iz!!"
Max squatted down, scooped up the ring, and finally got his house key in the front door lock. A few quick, practiced twists, and he was inside.
*Why* did Isabel have to ask him to go pick up her Chemistry books? Well yeah, she and Alex and Tess had arranged to start practicing mentalics further tonight. But Max was supposed to pick up Liz in about two minutes, so for all practical purposes he was already late and would be VERY late if he couldn't find the damn textbook. Where was it??
She said she'd left it in the living room. And why was it so dark in here?? Max's parents always left a light on in every part of the house if they were going to be out all night... 'to discourage the burglars,' his mom said. But the lights were all out and the drapes were pulled. "What's going on here??"
"Just a surprise change of plans, good lookin'!!" With those words, the sliding doors to the dining room parted and a soft, yellowish light spread through the opening. Candlelight. And a slender sillhouette outlined against the candlelight, that Max suddenly suspected would match the voice.
"Liz?" Max headed forward and to the side to get a better look as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Yes, it was Liz - curls of dark hair cascading down past her shoulders (he had known that she was getting a perm last night but had hardly had a chance to get a good look at it today at school.) She was wearing a little black dress and a smile lit up her already-gorgeous face. "Wow, you look incredible... and I am obviously underdressed." Max waved self-consciously at his t-shirt and jeans.
"Don't worry about it," Liz assured him. "I just felt like dressing up. On the other hand, if you wanted to go up to your room and QUICKLY throw on nice shirt and pants, and maybe a sport coat, I wouldn't stop you." She laughed softly. "But really that would just delay dinner."
"Dinner?" Max looked past Liz into the dining room. The table was set with ornate candelabras in the centerpiece and fancy dishes, covered serving platters, the whole nine yards. "Just how much trouble did you go to to set this up Liz?"
"Don't worry about it." Liz chuckled. "I just wanted to make you a nice dinner because I loved you, and... well, some friends wanted to help out and things snowballed a little from there, but it's nice, don't you think?" She giggled nervously, the soft pink blush of embarassment only narrowly visible on her face in the dim yellowish light, and somehow Max treasured it more for that.
"It's incredible. Thank you, and thank 'the friends' for me too, okay?" Max felt like a goofy smile was plastered over his face. He bent down slightly and kissed Liz, trying to let her feel all the love he held in his heart for her.
A few Liz-flashes popped into Max's mind. Liz out on her balcony, writing in her journal - he couldn't place it any closer than that. Riding with him in the Jeep on the old highway -- oh, that was probably just before the accident that put him in the hospital. That night out in the desert, when they found the first orb.
Max broke off the kiss and looked into Liz's incredible brown eyes, shining with just a hint of tears that Max certainly hoped were due to happiness and not sorrow. "Did... did you get a flash just then?"
"No... why?" Liz's confusion turned to play-acting resentment. "Why... what did *you* get?" She pouted dangerously at him.
"Just you, Liz Parker," Max whispered reassuringly. "Only you." That, at least, brought a smile back to Liz's face. "So, what's for dinner?"
"Well, let's see..." Liz led him over to a seat at the table and started busying herself with the platters on the table. "I'm going to be trying all of your favorites tonight, Max... grilled cayenne peppers in a sugar cream sauce... ahh yes, here - maple curry halibut, Linguine with your mom's special thickened tabasco gravy and corn syrup... and... a surprise for desert." Liz grinned wickedly at him.
"Oh, god..." Max winced. "How did you find all this out - Isabel again?"
"Pretty much," Liz confessed. "And your mom's 'kitchen box.' Don't be embarassed, Max - this is the kind of stuff you like, right?"
"Well, yeah... kind of." Max shook his head slightly. "I dunno, I guess I've found the 'sweet and spicy' kick only takes me so far anymore. I'd have liked to try *your* favorite foods."
"Oh." For a moment Liz was crestfallen, and then she put on a resolve face. "Well, THAT will have to wait for another night, when *you're* doing the detective work - AND the cooking! That's fair, isn't it??" She smiled across at him, taking her own seat.
"You've got a deal," Max promised. "Well, let's get started - pass those peppers over!"
For a minute they were busy with the trivialities of getting a meal started. And then after Liz had eaten her third pepper slice (and still making odd faces with them, Max noticed,) Liz asked "So... umm, how've you been? I mean, I feel like we've hardly gotten a chance to talk over the past few days."
"Yeah..." Max agreed. "Between serving tutoring duty, trying to pull ahead in my OWN classes, working after school with Brody, and that damn fool debate team -- busy but okay." Max kind of regretted having joined his one extracurricular activity for the year... he had signed up just after school started, when he seemed to have a lot of spare time and not much to do besides obsessing over the fact that Liz didn't seem to want to be with him any more.
Now, of course, he and Liz had reconciled, time was at a premium, and Max hadn't quite figured out how to quit the squad without disappointing his father. (Who, it turned out, had been captain of debate teams from sophomore year in high school all the way through to Stanford Law, and was delighted that Max was following in his footsteps...)
"Yeah, I hear you," Liz agreed. "Helping Maria out with her chemistry class, working evenings at Whittaker's office, and the science club." She sighed. "I'm glad we were able to get our schedules together, for at least one night."
"It won't just be one night," Max assured her. "Things'll settle down soon, I hope." He started on the fish, and something else occured to him. "I finally found a copy of that cave map, from River Dog's. Alex wants a whole bunch of us to get together, to go over it. Michael, and me, at least, and... Tess." He hated even saying the name to her. "Do you want to come along too?"
"No, Max," Liz shook her head. "I don't need to chaperone every time you and Tess are in a room together, I trust you. Besides, if you dragged me along, it might just make her suspicious." A beat. "*Speaking* of which... have you thought of a way to tell the delicate and fragile Miss Harding that we're together yet?"
"Umm..." Max could feel the hot flush spreading across his cheeks. "Well, not as such, no." Big sigh. "Maybe I'm looking for something that doesn't exist - we could just blurt it out. I mean... she knows that she has to stick with us. The challenge. If all four of us don't come together, it's pointless." Liz didn't look too convinced of that reasoning. "Come on, this night is about us. Let's not talk about Tess, okay?"
"I wasn't the one who brought her up, was I?" Liz muttered. "Okay, Max, what do you want to talk about?"
They chatted about old times, and new music, until it was clear that both of them together weren't going to eat more than about a third of all the food Liz had prepared. Then there was some making out, and some groping, but it didn't go any further than that. Max loved Liz, but he also knew that this wasn't the right time to go too far, and it seemed that Liz felt the same way.
They had ended up on the couch, Max wrapping his arms around Liz, her head resting on his shoulder, and a big warm quilt wrapped around them both, when Liz stiffened all of a sudden and jerked her head up. "What?" Max asked, immediately concerned. "What is it??"
"Umm..." Liz shook her head as if to clear out the confusion. "I think I had a dream."
"You were asleep?" Max teased her, and Liz nodded sheepishly. "Well, what was the dream about?"
"I'm not sure..." Liz confessed. "There wasn't that much to it... no sight, no sound. Just a sequence of bodily sensations."
Max's eyes grew wide. "What *kind* of sensations?"
She poked an elbow into his side. "Not THAT kind of sensations, ya big galoot. I..." she closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate. "I was sitting on a chair, I think -- hands tied beside me. I reached out and... and kicked something, and suddenly the floor tipped away at an angle and I started to fall. And that's when I woke up."
"Weird," Max muttered, wrapping his arms more tightly around Liz again.
"Yeah." Liz relaxed, then tried to sit up again. "Max... what time are your parents supposed to be home?"
Max checked the clock, and remembered what his mother had said that morning. "Fifteen minutes."
Liz forced an arm out of Max's embrace and gestured to the various personal items littering the living room floor and the uneaten food in the dining room. "We'd better start cleaning all this up, don't you think?"
Max sighed. "I guess you're right." He let Liz go and threw back the quilt, and as she went off to find her shoes, Max reached down and put his shirt back on.
* * * * *
(November 2 2000.)
"No... I'm sorry," Michael insisted. "Just look at this dialog. The woman has gone crazy."
"Shakespeare's using insanity as a metaphor for character growth," Maria argued back. "She's realized how meaningless the world of male ambition is and she can't come to terms with the acts of cruelty she knows she's committed. I... I feel sorry for her, actually."
"I don't!!" Michael shot back. "I mean... she nagged and henpecked Macbeth into becoming a traitor, and while he's out there fighting the final battle to protect what she wanted Lady Macbeth just gets to go crazy??"
"Macbeth wanted all that too!!"
"You guys are so lucky," Isabel commented idly. Both Michael and Maria turned to stare at her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."
"Lucky, how?" Michael couldn't help but ask.
"I dunno, it's just..." Isabel sighed as she tried to put her thoughts in order. "Every time you guys talk, even if it's just about English Lit, you have all this passion. I... sometimes I guess I'm worried that Alex and I will never have that."
"Oh." Maria muttered, suddenly embarassed.
"But I didn't mean to get us off topic," Isabel continued, going firmly back into 'tutor mode.' "Insanity as metaphor, the fate of Macbeth versus lady macbeth, both of those are good answers, and actually they'd be good topics for your three page papers. And I think that's enough Shakespeare for now..." She picked up a printed page and looked at it. "Okay, your book reports are due in two and a half weeks, have you picked your material?"
"Umm... I was thinking 'The partner,' by John Grisham?" Maria asked tentatively.
"Hmm." Isabel considered that weightily. "Yeah, I think that'd be okay for Mister Monatee. And you, Michael??"
"Umm... 'Franny and Zooey', by J D Salinger?" Michael asked. Both Maria, and to a lesser extent Isabel, stared at him in shock. "Well, I liked Catcher in the rye so much I thought I'd try it out," Michael added defensively.
"Every time I think I've got you figured out you surprise me, spaceboy," Maria whispered appreciatively.
"Yeah... um, those are both good, so... let's see, I have you on Saturday afternoon at one, so... I'd like you to bring your first drafts for the three day papers, and have at least half of your books read by then. And don't worry about the test on the first three acts of 'Macbeth.' you're both gonna do great!!" Isabel smiled with a little too much enthusiasm for Maria's taste.
* * * * *
(November 3 2000.)
"Try to concentrate on the most general description you can. You can see specific imagery from this thing, you already know that. But as long as you're looking at the trees instead of the forest, you'll miss things -- like you almost missed that monster in the labyrinth. What's the thread that ties everything together?"
Alex nodded without opening his eyes and focused. Nothing. And then, it seemed, he started to get something. "A life. One particular... alien, a young journeyman in the power. His memories, over a period beginning not long after the Royal Four were killed and ending when the ship left for earth. I... I can get some images that have to be from his childhood, but it's predominantly that... that two or three month period."
Alex sighed and opened his eyes. "I need to take a break, I've been thinking too hard. But that was a good cue, Liz. Thanks for... well, for coming here, being my sounding board. I know you've probably got other things you'd rather be doing?"
Liz smiled at Alex from his desk chair as he still sat cross-legged on the bed. "Like what?"
"Like making more time with Max??" Alex teased.
Liz sighed. "Have I been so obvious about it lately?"
"To everyone except a certain girl with the intials T.H, yeah."
Liz nodded. "Actually, he's working on a big physics paper tonight, or at least he should be. But even if he weren't... I hope the day never comes when I don't have time to help my best, oldest friend in the world."
"So Maria's good, but where does that leave me?" Alex wisecracked.
Liz looked up at that with surprise. "Is that what you think? That I'm a better friend to Maria than to you?"
Alex thought for a second, as he stretched his legs over the side of the bed. "Well, I wouldn't have put it that way, but yeah, I feel like you're closer to her than you are to me. You've known her a few years longer, you spend more time together." Alex knew he shouldn't, but the words came out of his mouth without him being able to stop them. "You told her about the whole Cszechoslovakian thing like the day you found out. I had to wait for three months."
"Oh, god." Liz rushed over and sat beside Alex on the bed. "Look, I'll admit that the circumstantial evidence looks bad," she admitted. "But I never meant it to be that way or anything. As far as I'm concerned I have TWO best friends - you and Maria. No difference. And if you ever feel that I'm not acting that way, you just let me know, okay??"
"Easier said than done," Alex pointed out. "But I'll try."
"So..." Liz shuffled down the bed to give each of them a little more space now that Alex seemed to be okay. "How are things going between you and the ice queen??"
"Glacially!" Alex shot back. "But that's okay - this thing with Isabel, we've both kind of learned to take it at its own pace. When I try to rush... bad things can happen." He sighed a little.
"You'll get there," Liz promised. "So... do you want to try some more with the doo-hickey?" She pointed at the alien washer sitting next to Alex on the bed.
"Hmmm... nah. I'll wear it to bed tonight, see if I get any good dreams." He thought for a second. "Should I set up the checker board?"
Liz laughed. "You're on."
* * * * *
(November 4 2000.)
Maria checked her watch, and then her reflection in the mirror one more time. Michael had told her to be ready at ten-thirty in the morning for an 'all day event,' and to dress 'casual hot.' (She groaned slightly at that last part, out of sheer habit.)
But she couldn't get too mad at Michael lately - her sense of sheer happiness got in the way. Michael wanted to be with her, and he was making an effort, and that made Maria feel okay about putting up with an occasional bout of 'Michael-ism.' After all, if she loved the big lug, tolerating any minor faults was the thing to do right?
She had even spent almost an hour trying to figure out what would best satisfy as 'casual hot' to Michael Guerin. She ended up wearing her 'only-for-special-occasion' designer jeans, (the ones that clung to her legs in all the right ways,) a cut-off tie-die-pattern T-shirt that showed her midriff off, and her mom's old cowboy boots. Michael didn't stand a chance!
And speaking of whom, Maria caught the unmistakeable sound of an engine smoothly dying away in the driveway. Michael was a minute or two early. Would miracles never cease?!!
Maria was so excited that she hurried out of the house to meet him. When Michael turned around and saw her, his jaw dropped and his eyes bugged out. "M-Maria. You look *INCREDIBLE!*"
"Thanks," Maria mumbled. Actually, she felt like Michael looked - he was in a tight t-shirt and jeans too - white above and black below, and there wasn't a part of the outfit that didn't hint at the handsome, muscular physique she knew was underneath. "Um -- you, you too," Maria stammered out belatedly.
"Cool," Michael replied with a quiet smile. Turning away from her for a second, he produced a second helmet, not quite a match for the one under his arm. "Well, should we hit the road babe?" he asked solicitously. "Ways to go."
He moved aside slightly, and it was the first time Maria got a clear view of the vehicle sitting in her mother's driveway. As she had expected (and as the helmet confirmed,) Michael had picked her up in the motorcycle he had acquired over the summer. (And by 'acquired', Maria meant that he had either bought the chassis thirdhand at the secondhand bike shop or rescued it from te scrap yard and decided that he could 'restore' it.)
But 'the Bike' didn't look like the last time Maria had seen it. Was it less obvious dust and rust? A few new brightly colored wheel guards and other esthetic touches?? A trace of polish and shine!? Feeling a little vague, Maria mumbled "I like what you've done to the bike, too," and plunked on the bike helmet. It had just better not mess up her hair *too* much.
Michael hadn't been kidding about his 'ways to go.' Maria only remembered that she still didn't know her final destination they passed the city limits sign on Main street. (285 South, didn't that bring back memories. But Michael hadn't taken the on-ramp to the highway.) Where *was* he taking her?
It wasn't easy to talk above the roar of a motorcycle engine while whizzing down the road and wearing a helmet, so Maria settled for wrapping her arms around Michael's body and watching the desert scenery parade past. Time seemed to lose some of its meaning, but with a start Maria realized that they must have been riding for nearly half an hour already.
"Where the czechoslovakia are we going, anyways??" she called out to Michael.
"Suprise," he reminded her maddeningly in a throaty shout. "Don't worry - we'll be there soon!"
The town of Dexter, New Mexico had just come and gone when Michael suddenly made his turn off of the main road, and quickly they were pulling into a parking lot. Other cars were pulling in and finding places all around them -- mostly families with kids, though some teenagers like them and older people. "What IS this??" Maria repeated as she got off of the bike and pulled off her helmet.
"County fair," Michael explained, pointing off to the side of the parking lot and up slightly. Above the trees Maria could see part of a Ferris wheel that had presumably been set up in a clearing on the other side of the narrow strip of forest - along with the rest of the fair, presumably. "I thought you'd like it."
"Awww..." As Michael pulled off his own helmet Maria swooped in and kissed him quickly on the lips, holding it for several seconds. Once the kiss was over Maria broke into a wide grin, and Michael just looked at her for a second, semi-stunned.
"What was th-- oh, never mind," he decided, taking her hand. "Come on, let's go. What do you want to do first?"
"Umm..." Maria thought as they walked towards the midway. "I want you to win me the best prize they have in the ring toss!!"
"Oh, boy," Michael groaned...
Of course, it wasn't quite that easy. In fact, Michael got onto a bit of an unlucky streak, and they had to wander around the midway a little while until he finally used his powers to knock down the bottle tower before Maria got her prize - she picked a pretty green crystal key ring and was thrilled with it. Then sharing some fried chicken and french fries from one of the food shacks, and they got strapped in together for a ride in the biggest roller-coaster Maria had ever seen. Michael said something about it being more fun than the labyrinth, with none of the monsters.
"Well, what now?" Michael asked, as they left the coaster exit. Maria slowed to a stop, still a little unsteady on her feet after all of the high-G motion, and looked around.
"Oh, they set up a tunnel of love somehow!!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Come on, Michael, we *have* to try it out!"
"Hmmm..." Michael considered the suggestion, and his eyes took in Maria from top to bottom all over again. "Yeah, I think that's an idea I can get behind."
It took a little while - (waiting in a line, mostly,) but finally the two of them were helped into a small, comfy boat by a discreet attendant and set loose to drift through the tunnel. Soon the dimness closed in and they might very well have been the only two people in the world - which was obviously the point.
"So... what happens now?" Michael asked, vaguely nervous. "Do we just start... doing stuff??"
"Umm..." Maria could understand how Michael felt. This seemed a little bit too much like the feeling she had heard about from makeout game parties in high school - where you were *expected* to kiss so much that it sucked all the fun out. (Maria had never been invited to those kinds of parties.)
"No... not yet, we don't have to," she assured Michael. "It's not like there are 'tunnel of love' rules. We can just sit here and talk for a while." She leaned back, snuggling into the crook of his arm.
"So..." Michael let that word hang in the air for a few long moments. "How've you been doing?"
"Me?" A loud sigh of contentment escaped Maria. "I've been great."
"You really mean that?"
Maria turned around slightly to look at the young man she had fallen in love with. "Well, yeah! No..." She caught herself and looked around carefully. Nobody seemed to be within earshot, but she couldn't be sure how far their voices would carry in this tunnel. Still - they weren't hearing sounds from any other boats, and she doubted that everybody would be completely quiet. A bit of caution would have to do.
"No 'out of this world' crises for the past almost two weeks... everybody in the gang seems to be getting along great... and then there's you, spaceboy." She dropped her voice to a throaty whisper instinctively for that last bit.
Michael smiled a wide smile. "Little ol' me?"
Something snapped a little inside of Maria at that point, and she swatted Michael soundly on the shoulder. "Stop that!"
"Hey!!" Michael protested, and then her words registered. "Stop what?! What was that for?"
"Being too sweet," Maria accused him. "That's not the rude, stubborn, son-of-a-bitch that I fell in love with." And she grinned teasingly at him.
"Really?!" Michael's eyes glinted in the dim mood lighting. "Well, I'm not the only one here who's been acting a little saccharine lately."
"Who, me??"
"No, the little gingerbread girl hiding in the far corner of the boat," Michael mocked. "Of course, you."
Maria considered that a moment, and Michael's face widened suddenly. (Was he evaluating the expression on her face the way she kept track of his mannerisms?) "Guilty as charged," she finally confessed. "I've just been so... so *happy* lately."
"And I haven't??" Michael pressed.
"Gotit," Maria nodded. "So we're agreed - we'll just have to make the ultimate sacrifice for our relationship and bitch at each other more."
"Sounds good to me, shrill and compulsive!!" Michael joked along, turning Maria around in his arms and bringing his lips to hers for a passionate kiss.
The kiss was slow, not like the one Maria had initiated in the parking lot, or the smooches they'd been trading back and forth around the fair. Luxuriant. Maria was glad that she was already lying down, because none of her muscles wanted to work the way they usually did, the way her body felt when Michael was kissing her like this. She managed to put enough effort into raising her arms to get her hands onto *Michael*'s arms, stroking them, feeling the buff lines of his skin.
Michael's hands were both at the small of her back, and when he took his lips away from hers, Maria let out a sound that seemed a mix of a sigh, a moan, and a mew - all of it dissapointed. "Don't stop, Michael -- no stopping."
Michael smiled in that infuriating way he had. "You want more of that, babe?" He waved beckoningly, sitting up beside her. "Come and get it!"
Maria took him at his word, launching herself up with an energy she hadn't realized she had thirty seconds ago, wrapping her arms tightly around Michael's neck, and kissing him as well as she knew how. It was different from the last kiss, more energetic - was that because she was the initiator this time? The difference between hers and Michael's 'kissing perconalities'? Or were serious, no-kidding-around kisses like snowflakes, no two alike?
Maria didn't waste too much energy wondering about such things, in fact, most of her concentration was razor-focused on holding Michael as tight as she could and licking at his tongue with hers. Even remembering to inhale through her nose she was starting to feel short of breath, but Maria didn't care. If she asphyxiated here in the tunnel of love, french-kissing Michael Guerin... **well, let's be honest here. What better way to check out!?**
When Michael moved his mouth away from hers a second time, Maria didn't protest. Now, she could tell from the passionate glint in his eyes that all Michael was interested in was moving on to better things. Sure enough, soon Michael's lips found their way to her neck, sucking in that way that always used to take her breath away. The way Maria was feeling right now, 'taking her breath away' seemed like a moot point, but that only heightened the effects that Michael's talented lips created througout her body as they played across the sensitive spots on her skin. The dark, water-filled tunnel was gone as far as Maria could tell, replaced by a puffy pink cloud of delerious pleasure.A current of sensation was coursing through every level of her without stopping, slowly growing more and more intense. Hotter and hotter.
And then Michael flipped up her skimpy little belly shirt, tucking it into place just under her collarbone, and started stroking at the material of her light blue cotton bra.
HHOOOOOH-MAAMMAAAA!! If Maria had thought she was in make-out heaven before, (and the thought had managed to cross her mind,) this brought everything to another level. As Michael's fingers started to fondle her chest more strongly, (and yet quite tenderly,) and his lips started to suck at her right earlobe, Maria started to become aware of a new sensation entering the mix - and a question popping into her mind.
All of the lust and energy that had been spreading throughout her body was starting to converge... at a single point, as it were, and a strong need began to build at that point. **How much further do I want to go here** Maria wondered silently as one of Michael's hands ran carressingly over her stomach. She wasn't ready to... well, you know. At least she didn't think she was. And the idea of losing her virginity (or even coming close,) in a tunnel of love at the county fair was not quite her idea of 'making it special. But the temptation to unsnap her jeans (or ask Michael to do it,) and let things proceed from there was almost overwhelming.
"Umm, uhh... excuse me?" It would be hard to say whether Maria got her shirt pulled back down before or after the blush covered her face, and Michael jumped back away from her so suddenly that the boat almost started taking on water. After staring for a long couple of seconds, Maria's vision cleared to the point where she could make out the owner of the voice - the attendant who had gotten them into the boat at the first place. Obviously, they had gotten to the end of the ride, (or maybe the beginning again, depending on how you looked at it,) and hadn't noticed.
"Ummm... I can set you off for another go round," the twentysomething man said helpfully, "but we'll have to get the boad through this channel here."
"Ohh..." Maria considered for a moment, and then got somewhat wobbily to her feet. "No, I think we're good, thanks." As much fun as 'another go round' might be, Maria suspected that she might get into something that she really wasn't ready for. Michael had at least as much trouble maintaining his balance as she did.
"Okay, uh... here we go," tunnel-guy said, helping them out of the boat one at a time. "Have a nice day at the fair. Ohh... check yourself, buddy," he whispered to Michael, so quietly that Maria could hardly hear it.
Michael looked around at himself, and blushed again. Instead of heading for the exit, he walked over and leaned against the wall as the attendant took their boad away.
Maria headed over towards him. "So... what are we doing here?"
"Umm... I dunno about you, but I'm trying to get ready to be seen in public?" Michael whispered, with a significant glance downwards.
"Oh, uh, right..." Maria muttered, blushing herself. "Gotcha."
* * * * *
(November 5 2000.)
The door cracked open, revealing a wary eye. "Come on in, Maxwell." Michael opened the door to his apartment wider. "Everyone else is already here."
Max smiled and nodded as he came in. "Thanks." After a second, he commented, "What's this I heard about you beating some college student up at the carnival?"
Michael shrugged. "Well, he was insulting Maria." Max knew he had a dubious look on his face. "Don't worry, I did my best to keep everything low-profile. It's a non-issue."
Max was about to reply, but Tess called him over to the coffee table. "Hey, Max, glad you're here -- now, can we get started??"
"I guess so." Max went over to sit in one of the living room chairs, waving hello to Alex. Michael emerged after a minute or so with a big piece of paper, a hand-drawn enlargement of the cave map. (Had Michael drawn that himself?? It was really a very good reproduction.)
"Okay, Alex," Tess said with a sardonic gleam in her eye. "Here you go. Do yer washer-y thing."
Alex ignored any edge in Tess's voice and started keenly surveying the paper. "Okay... It's a map, obviously... these icons seem to indicate particular places on the map." He gestured to about half a dozen intricate pictures, spread over the map area. "And then there are the six lines of text, written in..." he concentrated, grabbed briefly for the alien washer in his pocket, and then seemed to get it. "They're written in a very old and convoluted alphabet from your home planet - something vaguely like chinese syllable-letters."
"Okay," Michael said, pulling the couch closer (to Tess' muted surprise, since she was sitting at the other end.) "What do they say?"
"I..." Alex shook his head in frustration. "I... I don't have all the answers here."
"You don't seem to have *much,*" Tess pointed out snidely. Max shot her a glare, which seemed to quiet her down.
"Your language is huge... well, I guess most languages are huge, but this is probably bigger than most languages on earth. I... I can't sort through it all. I can't process." Alex shook his head. "I'm sorry."
"Well, let's just take it one step at a time, okay?" Max suggested calmly, and reached out to point to the first few symbols on the first line. "What's this?"
"Umm... 'Kree-tur-vant,'" Alex recited slowly.
"And what does that mean in english??" Michael asked impatiently.
"That's just the trouble," Alex growled back. "I can access a huge amount of vocabulary from this thing, but it's all hit and miss, and I can never seem to find what I want. 'Varistor' is mentalics. 'guon' is a pronoun roughly corresponding with 'she'." He pronounced the alien word almost like 'goon,' except with a slightly sharper and more intense vowel sound. "'Aditars' is a companion. 'Venrik' is the color white, but how does any of that help us??"
"It's something to start with, at least," Michael shot back. "None of us have ever been able to get as far as you've gotten, Alex. Don't quit on us now. How would the rest of that line get pronounced??"
Alex sighed and turned his attention back to the map. "Kree-turvant, eg ad itar muant. The next line begins with--"
"Wait a second!!" Tess broke in. "You just listed 'aditars' in your sample vocabulary, Alex! Is that the same as the word you listed for these three symbols?" She ran her finger along three of the symbols in the first line of the message.
"I don't... wait a second!!" Alex exclaimed. "It's not exactly the same, but it's a variant on that root meaning. I guess it would be the plural form, 'companions.' And possibly past tense." He frowned. "But why didn't *I* make that connection?"
"I think I might know," Max said. "You've got the theoretical know-how in your head, but you're human. Your brain isn't set up to make the neural associations to truly learn our language -- at least, not easily. Whereas we..."
"Yeah, I get the point," Alex broke in. Max and Michael - all of them were different. He didn't need to be reminded about that. "Well... maybe you guys should be the ones trying to read the message then, and I'll just furnish my theoretical knowledge when you need it."
"We need it all," Max laughed. "Let's start with the phonetic pronunciation of the second line." He picked up a small notepad and a piece of paper.
It took them nearly three hours, and a substantial order of barbecue chicken delivered to Michael's apartment, to finish up a reasonably accurate translation. Once it was done, Max read over it again wonderingly.
"All my companions dead,
Alone and hunted am I.
That which I could salvage,
I've hidden around this land.
When you fathom my message,
You will know where."
"It sounds a lot better in the original language," Alex assured him. "Almost poetic."
"But it doesn't tell us anything we couldn't have guessed," Michael interjected as he turned on the TV to football and turned the volume down slightly. "Presumably Nasedo wrote that long before we emerged, as an instruction in case he couldn't meet us himself. The military had killed or taken prisoner the rest of the guardians, the police and the special unit were hunting him. So he drew the map to mark anything of value he'd been able to save from the wreckage of our ship."
"Like our pods," Max repeated, seeing it. "Which is the symbol you followed to take you to the public library the night of the contest, Michael?"
"Umm..." Michael scanned over the map briefly. "This one." He pointed to a marked spot on the paper. "The same symbol that we found in the woods."
Max stared at Michael for a second. "Umm, Michael?? That *isn't* the symbol that was in Frazier woods."
"It's not?"
"No - the symbol from Frazier woods was the whirlpool, the same symbol that was on Atherton's necklace and the orbs. THIS --" And Max pointed to the map too, "is the planet-with-ring symbol -- the same one that was on the book from the..." and that's when it hit Max. "From the library."
"You followed the wrong symbol, Michael?" Tess observed.
"Hey, it could happen to anybody," Alex said. "Well, let's see... if the planet-with-ring is the library, and the four-square is the pod chamber, then the REAL whirlpool symbol would mark..." He frowned, trying to work it out in his head.
"Of course!!" Max exclaimed. "That's the old radio tower by Highway forty-two -- where Liz and I found the first orb. Which was marked with the whirlpool symbol."
"Okay," Michael said. "So, we've got three symbols accounted for so far... four left - this mountainy-looking thing, the row of little blocks..."
"I think maybe they're supposed to be cells, Michael."
"The big whirling circle that is maybe supposed to be a galaxy, and... a wheel segmented in five parts. Hey, isn't this..."
"Just like the one River dog used to heal you," Max finished. "And... yeah, the balance wheel icon is in the Mesaliko reservation. Where the map itself was... but I guess that's not a big problem." He sighed, looking at the map. "Three more caches of stuff that Nasedo was able to save from the crash. I wonder what might be there?"
"Hey," Alex piped up. "How did you know to go to the library to get the book anyway, Tess?"
"Ed told me about it," she said, confirming Alex's guess. "He didn't tell me to take it, just that it was there. I... well, I wanted something to draw Max out, since he seemed to be avoiding me."
Somehow nobody had an immediate reply to that.
* * * * *
(November 9 2000.)
Isabel turned Max's jeep behind a rocky outcropping and parked it there. "Okay, here we are."
Alex looked around. "And where is 'here' specifically?" The area looked a little familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. Isabel had nabbed him at the start of lunch period (which was now almost half over, they had been driving so long,) and not said a word about where they were going. Alex had gone along with it, not particularly interested in 'ruining her surprise.'
"You'll see," Iz said, pulling him in for a quick kiss, and then jumping out of the car. Alex followed as she led him up a craggy foot-path on another desert hill.
It hit Alex where he remembered this place from about three-quarters of the way up - when Max had shown him the pod chamber. "What's going on?" he blurted out. "Is something wrong?"
"No, I'd say something's right," Isabel assured him cryptically. Sure enough, she stopped at that unassuming rock face and waved her hand in the same spot that Max had. The glowing silver handprint emerged in the rock, as before, except this time Alex could sweat that it exactly matched Isabel's hand - right down to the long and slender fingers. She pressed her hand into the mark and like magic, the passageway opened before them.
"Come on in," Isabel said, stepping over the threshold. Alex followed her in uncertainly.
"Did you take me up here just to show me the pod chamber?" he couldn't help but blurt out. "Because I hate to steal your thunder, but Max already took me here, remember??"
"No, I didn't take you up here to 'show it to you,'" Isabel said, turning around to look him in the eyes. "I brought you up here for a picnic lunch!!" She waved down to the floor of the chamber, where surely enough a picnic basket was sitting, waiting for them.
"A picnic lunch," Alex repeated. "Here??"
"Why not?" Isabel shuffled over to the wall, touching a particular spot on it, and the doorway closed in on them. But the air inside seemed fresh and cool, and the light from the glowing ceiling seemed yellowish and blueish at the same time without becoming green. "No-one will disturb us here, at least."
Alex shrugged and smiled. "I guess I can't argue with that." He grabbed Isabel's hand and walked her over to the basket. "So when did you set all of this up? This morning before school??"
"Yeah," Isabel confirmed as they sat down. "Don't worry, I put ice packs into the basket to make sure that nothing went bad. A little trick I learned from mom."
"Oh yeah," Alex said, rifling through the basket. "Ice cold pasta and meat sauce. Great trick."
Isabel just waved a hand at the plastic container Alex had brought out of the basket, and suddenly it was hot enough that he almost dropped it. "Could you toss me a seven up and a tuna sandwhich, please?"
Alex did. "I keep forgetting that you can pull stunts like that."
They chatted about small stuff over the first course, schoolwork and the other members of the gang and family situations. After rooting around in the basket again and taking half of a chicken sandwhich, Alex changed the subject.
"Isabel, have you... thought any, about what this challenge means?? I mean... if we can pull it off, that means in less than a year you're going to be on your home planet, and we don't know if any of you will be able to come back."
"I dunno, I'm trying to just take it one step at a time," Isabel admitted. "I mean, it's a lot to grasp all at once." She cocked her head prettily at him. "Are you thinking about what will happen to us when I go?"
Alex smiled sheepishly, knowing that he was probably blushing. "I was trying very hard to avoid putting it in those terms, but yeah." He sighed loudly. "I mean, I *know* that we aren't really that serious, yet - but sue me, I have high hopes."
Isabel put her drink down and took Alex's hand. "Alex -- I love you too." Her eyes were locked onto his like a laser targeting scope. "And if there's any way -- I would love to take you across the galaxy with me, so that we can be together."
Alex gulped. "Do... do you really mean that, Isabel?"
She paused for a moment in self-reflection. "Yeah, I really really do!" And then, all of a sudden, it seemed as if she had launched herself at him like a... well, cliche intended, like a rocket ship. Her arms wrapped around Alex's chest and her lips found his like a guided warhead. The chicken sandwich was getting squashed somewhere between them, but nobody cared.
Isabel had initiated the kiss, but Alex could see that she was signalling him to take the driver's seat. (As it were.) That was fine with him - he felt like Isabel was always the one who was kissing him - (mostly because he never felt very certain of the reaction he'd get if he tried to make the first move. Maybe that would be different, after this.) He pushed his tongue between Isabel's lips, and the sensation when it met hers was incredible. They kissed french-style for about a minute, and then Alex moved away.
With one hand he carefully brushed Iz's golden-honey hair away from her right ear, and then bent in to kiss her on the earlobe. Isabel moaned quietly. "You're so beautiful," Alex whispered in her ear.
Alex saw a catlike smile slowly spread across Isabel's face. "Really?"
He hadn't really thought of that as anything but completely obvious. "Of course."
"What's the most beautiful thing about me?" she purred. Ahh, so that was the deal here, was it?
"Well, now, that's a tough one," Alex teased back flirtingly, planting a quick peck on her cheek. "There's your incredible heart, which has so much love for everybody who's become a part of your life..." he readjusted position slightly to look her straight in the eyes, "and there's your incredible rich brown eyes... so deep that a guy could get lost in them. He'd just keep staring deep into their amazing depths, and bit by bit -- he'd fall in, and never again know or care about the world he was leaving behind."
Isabel laughed throatily at that - Alex had to admit it had a high corniness factor, but so what? "Is that all?" she flirted back at him.
"Hmmm..." Alex kissed at Isabel's neck and gave her a playful once-over glance. "Let's see... there's your pretty blonde hair... your sense of humour... and those sweet -- lush... lips..." and Alex started passionately kissing her again.
"Alex..." Isabel moaned around their merging lips. "Touch me. Please..."
Touch her?? For a second, Alex didn't understand what she was talking about. And then a sudden flash of imagery popped into his mind. Alex's eyes popped open instantly - Iz's were still closed, but somehow he couldn't doubt that she had just used his mentalic talent on him.
Alex reached out and started stroking his hand across the front of Isabel's blouse. "Oh, yeah," she moaned. Alex started rubbing the luscious curves harder, though still tenderly, and grinned when he saw Isabel's eyes start to glaze over with pleasure. Soon his fingers found a hardening point, and started massaging into it. Isabel's moaning grew louder -- and louder --- and stopped with a contented sigh.
Alex looked over at Isabel with a pleasantly scandalized grin on his face, and found a very similar expression on her face. As they disengaged, Alex started rooting around inside the picnic basket.
"Dessert, anyone?" he asked. Isabel's eyes widened.
"No, I meant... do you want a pudding cup??" Alex clarified.
* * * * *
(November 12 2000.)
He knocked three times on Isabel's bedroom door and waited.
"Who is it?" Before the visitor could make up his mind how to answer, the door swung open. "Michael! You didn't tell me you would be coming by!"
"That's the way it goes," he said, catching hold of Isabel's fingers lightly. "Avoiding reality day."
Isabel gasped. This was a tradition that hadn't been played out between them for years - since freshman year, at least. "Why now?"
"Are you telling me you *aren't* a little stressed?" Michael asked with a bit of a twinkle in his eye. He didn't list out the possible sources of stress -- it wouldn't be in the spirit of avoiding reality (let's see, there was schoolwork to the max, alien assasins still on the loose, and a deadline looming over their heads...) But Isabel got the picture.
"Just let me change into something a little more 'young and reckless', okay??" She winked at Michael and closed the door again.
"Where are we going?!" Isabel yelled into Michael's ear as his motorcycle zoomed them down Baldon road. Michael didn't answer, and Iz couldn't see his face, but she could have sworn from the slight shrug he made that he wanted to grin tauntingly at her.
By the time Michael had turned off the main road and pulled the motorcycle off at the point where the path changed from paved concrete to packed dirt, though, Isabel knew the score. Michael took off his helmet, looked back at Isabel, and delivered that teasing smile. "Well, here we are."
Iz climbed off the bike and pulled off her own helmet. "Yep, we are here," she confirmed. "And there we go," she concluded, pointing at the leftward branch of the fork in the path up ahead, which led up Danning's hill. "Whatcha gonna do about the bike though? Wouldn't want one of them crazy junior high kids making off with it."
"Not to worry." Michael concentrated, and a wall of foliage dropped from the nearby trees to wrap up the motorcycle. It would be hard to notice the vehicle like that, and practically impossible to get it free without alien powers.
"Somebody's been learning a few new tricks," Isabel commented with a wide smile. "Are you sure those vines won't hurt the bike any? No, I take the question back - of *course* you're sure or you wouldn'ta tried it huh?" Michael nodded, taking the jibe with good grace.
He searched his mind for a conversation starter as the two of them started along the path. Most of the things he could think of to say to Isabel didn't really fall under the guidelines for 'avoiding reality.' Finally Michael just blurted out "Free association!! Blue."
Isabel smiled briefly while thinking of a response. "Gold."
"Treasure,"
"Ring."
"Phone!"
"Number," Isabel replied with a grin.
'Math' flashed through Michael's mind, but free association or not, he couldn't bring himself to say the word on an avoiding reality day. Isabel shot over a sidelong glance, probably wondering what was keeping him, and Michael's mind blanked. "Um, uhh... prisoner," he finally managed to dredge up.
Isabel seemed doubtful of the connection there, so Michael felt honor-bound to defend it. "'I will not be filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, de-briefed, or *numbered,'" he quoted. "'My life is my own!' THAT prisoner."
"Okay, fine," Iz retorted, trying to make it seem as if she hadn't forced him into that little recitation. "Prisoner... castle."
"Princess," Michael shot back as he started over the rise of the hill.
"Hero," Isabel blurted out, blushing slightly.
"Destiny," Michael answered, and then stopped short. Isabel was staring at him, wide-eyed. "I... I can't believe I just said that," he said quickly. "You don't have to respond to it if you don't want to."
"No, it's okay," she assured him. "Destiny... bad!"
Michael laughed softly. "Good."
"Great."
"View!!" Sure enough, the two of them were just getting to the point where they could look down from the clifflike heights of Danning's hill to Liberty park spreading below them. Isabel smiled at took her old spot from years gone by, leaning her back against a tree and soaking it all in. The game was forgotten now - that was as good a point as any to end it on.
Liberty park was where the Crash festival was held every year. About fifteen feet below the place where Michael was standing, in fact, was the carved out niche where a mockup alien ship perched until the height of the festival, when carefully arranged firecrackers shot it out of the rock face and swinging down a steel cable towards its doom, in a grisly (Michael had always thought,) commemoration of the Roswell Incident.
But that slightly squicky association hadn't been enough to keep this hilltop from being a favorite hangout of Michael and Isabel - and Max too - when they were young. Partly because of the incredible view of the park and Roswell itself that Danning's hill offered.
Michael looked over at Isabel. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing deeply, as if she could appreciate the vista beneath them better if she didn't actually bother looking at it. (The way she was spending so much time training senses beyond the human capacity, maybe she *could* at that.)
"When we were in the fourth grade," Michael said all of a sudden, "I used to daydream about a flying saucer coming back for us, right here." Isabel opened her eyes again and followed Michael's gesture, covering a huge swath of space near the overlook and above the park far below. "So big you almost couldn't see all of it. And they'd bring the three of us aboard with some kinda cool tractor beam thing, you and me and Maxwell, and our parents would be on board. And their friends and all our relatives and some cool alien kids about our own age. And they'd all throw a big party in our honor while the flying saucer headed for home at hyper-speed."
Isabel was smiling widely. "That's a nice daydream, even still."
Michael nodded slowly. "Yeah. But the sad reality is it's not gonna be that easy, is it?"
"Michael!" Isabel swatted him on the arm. "What is it we're supposed to be avoiding today?"
"Sorry." They stayed there for a long timee, just looking down at the park.
"Ya wanna go to the mall and set off sprinklers??" Isabel asked suddenly.
Michael thought for a second. "Yah, what the heck."
Isabel grabbed Michael's hand for no good reason he could see, and he didn't say anything about it or push it away. A long moment and a half later, Iz took it back herself, and smiled at him in the same old way she always had.
* * * * *
(November 14 2000.)
"Mercury roaster with tomato and relish, green cheese mash, and a pepsi," Liz recapped as she slid the food onto the table. "Anything else?"
"Not a thing," Alex assured her with a smile.
"Okay." Liz smiled to, and left, but when Alex looked up after taking the first bite of his megaburger she was standing near his table again, looking faintly nervous. "What is it, Liz?" he asked softly.
"Are you expecting anyone, Alex?" Liz stalled, looking around. "Iz??"
"Nah," Alex sighed. "My darling Isabel is taking a well-deserved night of vegging in front of the television. First a quick trip to Capeside, and then she'll swing by new york and catch up with Felicity."
"Sounds nice," Liz said, slipping into the booth across from Alex. "You didn't want to join in?"
"Nah... I may drop in later. But I'm not particularly in the mood for all the..." Alex searched for the mot juste, "intensity of a night of teenage soap opera. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I think so," Liz said, nodding. "Listen. My dad's been bugging me to mention something to you, but it never seemed like the right time."
Alex blinked in surprise, his curiosity piqued. "Really, what?"
"Well, remember how you and Maria were telling me about going and performing at that open mike night?"
It took Alex a moment to place the reference. "Yeah. I've been meaning to talk to Maria about setting up a time to do that again, but with the big schoolwork push and everything else that's been going on..."
Liz interrupted Alex's big ramble. "My dad's thinking about starting a live music thing here at the crashdown, and he needs some regular performers who'll do their thing for next to nothing, to start. How'd you feel about playing here in exchange for some free food?"
Alex blinked in surprise. "I feel pretty good about it. But what about Maria, does she know?"
"Not yet." Liz shook her head. "Since my dad hasn't had any luck in two years convincing Maria to so much as sing in front of him, he thought I should run this by you first. Then we can work together to convince Maria just in case."
Alex grinned. "Sounds cool, I'm in." Liz smiled back, and stood up as she noticed Michael waving her over from the kitchen window.
"Gotta go, order's up. Oh, and you might have to deal with my dad's musical preferences. See ya!!"
Alex smiled and took a bite of his mashed potatoes, which had started to cool. "What the heck does *that* mean??"
* * * * *
(November 16 2000.)
Michael intercepted Liz as Max was walking her to her first class. "Did you talk to her this morning?" he asked in a low voice.
There was no need to ask who 'her' referred to. "No, I haven't," Liz sighed. "And I don't think any of us need to be bugging her, or just calling to say hi, or asking how she's doing more than usual. She's feeling the pressure already and it's still early."
"Yeah," Max weighed in softly. "It's only just coming up on three weeks and three days. 'Three and a haf weeks' is vague enough that it could mean at any time in the next two and a half days."
Michael sighed a sigh that was only half of a groan. "I know," he whispered. "I'm just nervous about this message-from-the-future stuff. I mean, what we learned on Labyrinth day has changed all of our lives over the past few weeks. What is Maria's life has changed enough that she doesn't find it? What if none of us ever do."
"Relax," Liz urged the teenage alien. "Future Alex would have taken all that into consideration. He knows where the book is, and if he told Maria to just wait instead of telling her where it was, it must be somewhere where its discovery by us is pretty inevitable. If not now, then soon."
"Plus, it's not like the timelines have really changed," Max pointed out. "The timeline Future Alex came from is one where you and Maria got a message from him. How else did he know where to find you guys?" Michael seemed doubtful about that.
"Maria!!" Liz called out suddenly. Sure enough, she was heading straight towards the three of them.
"You can stop talking about me," Maria groused sourly as soon as she was within range. "Good news is, I've found the damn book. Bad news is, my mother's had it all this time!!"
Liz looked from Maria to Michael and then Max - the shock on their faces echoed what she felt.
TO BE CONTINUED...