AN: Okay... I have to admit it's gettingreally frustating... I mean I enjoy watching the number of hits raising. That's great! So thank you for reading!

But no one of you can afford 1 minute to submit a review, write a comment! Come one:-)

Disclaimer: I do not own „Roswell".

Ways of Life! – Chapter 7

When he found back to consciousness he first thought he would be still in the hospital. But he missed the antiseptic-hospital-smell and opened confused his eyes. No hospital. An apartment? – Why did he expect to wake up in a hospital! – Suddenly realization hit him… Don't panic!

Someone sat cross-legged on his bed speaking with a man sitting on a chair.

"..and I thought we could – Oh, he's awake", the man stated.

'Dr. Myers' turned around. "Hi", she greeted Jake and gave him a warm smile.

His eyebrows narrowed; he didn't smile back. Slowly he reached under the blanket and his hospital – nightshirt. "My God? What happened? I was wounded! I knew I was! – And where am I", he wanted to know from his therapist.

"Calm down, Jake! – Please", she added with her therapists' voice when he tried to get up. Jake sat up but didn't leave the bed. "Okay. – But what the hell is going on! – I trusted you!"

Maria smiled. "And you can still trust me, I assure you. – Michael, could you please find some clothes for Jake?" 'Mr. Smith' nodded, got up and left the bedroom.

She turned back to Jake. "You want to know 'what the hell is going on'?" Jake blushed hearing his therapist using these words but nodded.

Maria got up and moved to the window. How should she begin to explain what she herself didn't understand? Life's way is unfathomable… It shouldn't have been that they met again. Jake should live a normal life with his adoptive parents – but here they were. She closed the curtain, turned to Jake and extended her hand. "At first: My name is Maria DeLuca. Nice to meet you."

They shook hands. "DeLuca?"

"Yes. Myers is the name I use for nearly 13 years now. – I'm afraid I'm to blame for this guy shooting at you… or we are."

"Who is 'we'? – You and your friend? – And how can you…" Jake didn't finfish the sentence. It was too much… this man trying to force him into a car and than shooting at him… waking up in the hospital, seeing the man he saw often in his dreams before … and now his therapist – which he knew only for a few days - telling him it all had to do with her.

"I'll explain it. Uhm… in the hospital, you recognized Max, didn't you?"

Jake didn't know where he had seen the man before but he had recognized him and his name. He nodded.

"But you don't know from where?"

He nodded again.

"You met him when you were a baby – in Roswell", she added.

Jake tasted the sound of this word. "Roswell… Is that where I am from?"

This time Maria nodded. "Yes." She could see how excited the boy became.

"And my parents", he managed to ask.

"They lived there. But they had to give you away, because they knew… they wanted you to be safe. And this safety they couldn't afford."

A shadow crossed Jakes' face. "That's ironic."

"Yes… somehow it is."

"Okay, fortunately I left some clothes here last time I visited our hiding-place", Michael said as he came back carrying a bundle of clothes. He looked at Jake and nodded. "Yes, I think they should fit." He gave Jake the clothes and he got up. "Thanks. I…"

"You can change there", Maria pointed at the bathroom.

Jake closed the door and Maria sighed. She let herself fall on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The paint crumbled.

Michael took his seat on the chair. "It isn't easy – but you make it good."

"Thanks. On the other hand – I'm not his mother. I just don't know how much I can tell him. Max should decide these things. Do you think he and Liz come back soon?" She rested her elbows on the bed and looked hopeful at Michael.

He shrugged. "I guess it was too much for Max. - Liz will reassure him and then they will be at our place."

Jake came out of the bathroom. He lifted the green shirt he was wearing – and Maria and Michael could see a silver handprint on his stomach. "What… what is this?"

"It is the sign of healing our kind leaves on humans when we heal them", Michael explained. "Don't worry; it will vanish within the next days."

Jake nodded. He had accepted that he was in something strange now. "And he healed me?"

"Yes."

"What did you mean by 'our kind'?"

This moment the front door opened and Max and Liz came in. They all looked at them. "Hi", Max greeted the three while Liz – in one hand a shopping bag - closed the door.

Michael pointed with his head in Max's direction. "Maybe you should ask him, Jake. – What do you think, shall we prepare dinner?" The last words he directed at Maria and Liz.

"Good idea", Liz agreed and they got into the kitchen.

Jake sat down on his bed, Max on the other one. There was silence. Jake crossed his legs. "Thanks for healing me", he finally said.

Max looked up from the floor. "I had to do it."

"Why?"

"I… I didn't want to lose you… again."

"You mean that I wouldn't have recovered without you."

He shook his head. "No. You know, I worked in a hospital for the last years. You learn how the staff acts near a patient of whom they think he won't… survive. - And when I healed you I saw that they were right to think so."

Jake drew a deep breath. I should have died… shouldn't I? Then it would have had an end. But I wouldn't have met this man – again. – Why do I want to like him? "Mrs. DeLuca said we have met before today… in Roswell."

Max nodded. "That's right. Did she tell you… about your parents?"

"She told me that they lived there but couldn't keep me because they thought it wouldn't be safe. – Did you know them?"

God, can I just say 'Hi, I'm your father!'? Why does he have to ask me this question?- Oh, come on, Max! Of course he has to! "Yes", he got out.

Jake nodded and for a moment there was silence again. Then Jake took all his courage and asked the question that formed in his mind during that last minute he spoke with this man: "Are you my father!"

One moment they looked at each other. "Yes." Max got up and begun to walk up and down the room. "No… yes… no - I mean: I don't know whether I have the right to be your father anymore!" He stopped and kneeled in front of his son. "I'm sorry." He smiled apologetically. "You ask me this question and I give such an answer. I am your father."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know. When I first found about you – I wanted to care for you, really be a father, you know? Now it is more complicated. You have a new family. The Bradley, right?"

Jake nodded. "Can I go back to them? I mean you 'kidnapped' me out of the hospital…"

Max got up. "It wasn't our intention to 'kidnap' you."

"Okay, I understand. – I just don't know what to think. Mrs. DeLuca said that she has to do with the things that happened today and… - Could you explain to me what this is all about?"

Max leaned against the wall. "I can. But to come to today's events I have to start with my own past."

"Okay."

"Maria already told you that I'm from Roswell. She, Michael and Liz are also from there. I, Michael and Isabel – that's my sister; she lives in Philadelphia now. - were adopted."

"You were adopted!"

"Yes. Isabel and I walked out of the desert and were found by a couple. They became our family."

"And Michael?"

"He was found by someone else. The point is that we met him later in school and we discovered that we three had something in common. We were somehow special."

"Special… "

AN: It is difficult to write about the realtionship of Jake and Max. How would you act, when you discover the son you had to leave didn't have to easy life you wished him and now you meet him and have to build up some kind of a relation to him? Maybe you could give me some hints whether I succeeded in writing this scene or not!