Hi all!

Okay, I was planning on updating once a week – honestly I was... But then I messed up... I'm so sorry. From now on I will try to update every Friday (at least from my time perspective... :D)

Amylou, cheri, Signkat (thanx a million for the tips!), Susan, Ames, Akashaa, Burgandy Lily. Thank you all sooooo much for the feedback! It makes my day so much brighter!! :D :D

Chapter 14

Santa Fe, New Mexico – 2005

"Mommy, mommy. Guess what, guess what!"

Elizabeth captured her bouncy daughter in her arms.

"No, I can't," Liz laughed after thinking about it for a few seconds.

"Oh, you have to twy!" Emma wailed dramatically.

Elizabeth pondered it, putting on a broody face.

"You've won a beauty contest and will spend your future days petting pets and looking beautiful."

"No," Emma giggled.

"You're...getting married?" she suggested.

"Mommy!"

"Okay....now I got it! You're moving to Hollywood to be a very successful actress."

"You're hobeless," Emma giggled. "We are going on a bield trip!"

"You're going on a field trip?" Elizabeth asked.

Emma nodded her head feverishly, obviously struggling to contain her excitement.

"Where?" Elizabeth asked.

"We going to see ALIENS!!" Emma shouted and started bouncing up and down, as if seeing aliens was the best experience in the whole world.

"You are?" Elizabeth asked incredulously.

"Yes," Emma said her eyes sparkling.

"Where?" Elizabeth asked, believing it was someplace in Santa Fe she hadn't heard of.

"In Rosbell," Emma said.

"I'm sorry, honey, what was that?" Elizabeth asked, her mind searching for something named Rosbell located in Santa Fe.

"We're going to Roswell - home of the aliens," the voice of Emma's teacher Ms. Harris said, stepping up behind them. If Elizabeth had held a memory that run further than about five years, she would most certainly know what Roswell where - even if it wasn't for the fact that she actually was born there. But she didn't know that.

Elizabeth looked at the teacher. She was young to be a teacher - but on the other hand, Elizabeth was young to be a mother. They were possibly at about the same age.

"Really, is it far from here?" Elizabeth asked.

"You're kidding, right?" Ms. Harris said with a hesitant smile. "It's here in New Mexico, just a couple of miles from here."

Elizabeth realized that she was suppose to know this place and played along.

"Right, Roswell!" she said and put on a wide smile.

Ms. Harris relaxed and gave a more natural smile.

"We're going to visit a UFO museum. It will be fun. Of course, I need your consent and there is a small fee."

"I-I have to think about it," Elizabeth said.

"Sure. But it will not only be me there. There will be other teachers as well. I could not imagine myself alone with twenty one-meters tall rascals," Ms. Harris laughed.

Elizabeth laughed as well.

"Yeah, I can understand that," Elizabeth said, even though she couldn't really understand it since she only had contact with her daughter and her daughter acted like a responsible, calm eight-year-old.

Ms. Harris sat down on her heels.
"I'll see you tomorrow, darling," she said to Emma.

"Yes, Ms. Harris," Emma said.

"Bye," Ms. Harris said.

"Bye, Ms. Harris," Emma said and grasped her mother's hand.

"Bye, Mrs. Owen. It was nice to meet you," Ms. Harris said.

"Oh, just call me Elizabeth and it was nice to meet you too," Elizabeth said, not bothering to inform her that she wasn't married.

"Okay, Elizabeth. Just call me if you have any questions about the field trip, okay? You have my number?"

Elizabeth nodded.

"Yes, thank you. Bye."

"Bye," Ms. Harris said.



Roswell, New Mexico

"Max...Max," Brody called.


Max turned towards his boss. Max was still working in the UFO center in the weekends. It was not so much for the humble pay, but more to keep himself and the others updated on all alien activities.

"What's up, Brody?" Max asked.

"We have to make some plans," Brody said with his English accent, "We have a whole class of four- and five-year-olds coming from Santa Fe tomorrow."

"Right," Max said and his thoughts wandered to his own child. His child would be about the same age as those kids.

"C'mon, Max. Let's do some planning!"



Santa Fe, New Mexico - the next day

"Now, you be careful, Emma. Stay with the group, okay," Elizabeth said, her concern for letting her baby 'on her own' for the first time, displayed on her face.

"Mom, don't worry," Emma said seriously and hugged her worried mom once more. "I will hold Maria's hand the whole time."

Elizabeth nodded. She knew that it was just a field trip. Children went on them all the time. She was just another worried mother. Right, a mother who didn't know what could come back and hunt her, and maybe even her daughter, from the past she couldn't remember.
Elizabeth followed her daughter with her eyes as she stepped onto the bus and sat down beside her friends and waved goodbye to her mother, grinning from ear to ear. Elizabeth waved back and looked after the bus until it had disappeared from her sight.



Roswell, New Mexico

"Okay, Max. Here comes the bus, hold your weapons ready," Brody joked.

"They're not that bad are they?" Max asked slowly.

"Well, you obviously have never met a couple of four-year-olds," Brody said and chuckled at Max's somewhat frightened expression. "Don't worry, Max. You'll handle it!"

That's when the children started to get off the bus and the sound level more or less shot through the roof. The blurry noise of children's voices filled the air and they had not even entered the UFO center yet. Two or three were crying. Then the door opened and Max wished he had called in sick.

"Andy...it will be okay," a young woman comforted a crying child who held a strong grip with both his hands around the woman's leg. "There are no aliens here. No one is taking you away." She stepped up to Brody with an apologetic smile and offered her hand.

"Mr. Davis?"

"Yes," Brody answered and took her hand.

"Hi, I'm Anne Harris," Ms. Harris said and shook Brody's hand firmly. "Sorry about this," she added and waved her hand over the child still clinging to her leg. "He's a little afraid, but he will come around."

"This is Max Ev-" Brody started but stopped as he saw Max kneeling down in front of the boy.

"Hey, what's your name?" Max asked gently.

"Andy," the boy piped.

"Hi Andy! Do you wanna see something really cool?" Max asked in a secretive voice.
Andy looked very interested, but he fought very hard to not let his curiosity take the best of him.

"But you have to let go off your teacher's leg or I can't show you," Max said.

After some thorough thinking the boy let go off Ms. Harris leg and took Max's outstretched hand. Max led the small boy past all the scary alien dolls and alien pictures, past all the autopsy models towards the exhibition of the flying saucers. There was a large flying saucer there, which was large enough to squeeze in a four-year-old into. Keeping one hand hidden on the back of the saucer, Max kept the spacecraft in position as Andy climbed in. The saucer would have fallen down from the strings that was holding it in place under the weight of the child, if it hadn't been for Max's 'assistance'. Soon all the children had gathered around their new playmate and was all very eager to sit in the saucer.


Ten minutes later, Max's powers were starting to grow a bit weaker - he was getting tired. The high-pitched voices, the laughter and the yelling of the children didn't make the situation any easier. He was a bit startled by the touch of a little hand on his hip.

"Mister," a small voice said.

Max turned around and almost fainted. In front of him stood an almost exact replica of the girl he had lost almost five years ago, the girl who he would have traded his life to get one minute more with. But could it be...? He shook his head to clear his mind and focus on the little girl standing in front of him, looking up at him with a concerned look on her face. Her small body was that of a four-year-old, however her beautiful face spoke of a wisdom and maturity that was not only four years old.

"Yes," he said, his voice a level higher than usual.

"Are you awright?" the girl asked.

Max couldn't help but stare at her. God, was she....was she Liz's daughter? Had he been searching so long and so hard for Liz and his child to just have them found him? Max felt drawn to that little girl, and it was not only due to her similarity to his long lost soulmate. It was something else.

"Mister?" the girl asked again, her small hand now having slipped into of Max's large one.
Emma didn't know why she had gone up to that man. She felt that he was tired...and lonely. She felt that she should comfort him. She knew that her mother had told her not to talk to strangers, but he didn't seem like a stranger. He seemed kind.

"I'm Max," Max said and smiled a little. "What's your name?"

"Emma," the girl answered.

"Hi, Emma," Max said. "Now, is there something you wanna see here?"

Emma looked at him. He reminded her of her mother, how she always tried to talk about other things when Emma asked if she was okay.

Emma shook her head and then lowered it a bit in embarrassment.

Max only saw Liz.

"I-I'm hungwy," she murmured.

"You're hungry?" Max asked.

"Uh huh," Emma said, looking up and nodding her head.

"I know a great place where they have great food," Max said. "But we should probably talk to your teacher first. Maybe more of your friends are hungry."

"Yes, my mommy said that I shouldn't leave the gwoup," Emma said.

"Your mommy," Max repeated, mainly to himself.

"Yes," Emma said, having heard him and smiled a little as she continued. "She is so worried, she's worried all the time - ALL the time."

Max smiled at the little girl, which he already liked. She was so much different from the other kids. She didn't act her age - she was very mature. She seemed to have a big heart, and seemed to care and look out for the people around her. "Just like Liz," Max thought.
Max felt something soft against his palm and looked down to find the girl's hand tucked in his. It made him all warm inside.

Ms. Harris smiled at the couple approaching them. That cute guy, Max, had not only seen to it that all the children had had a fun time, but now he seemed to have won the trust of the suspicious Emma Owens in only a couple of minutes. Now that she saw them beside each, she noticed that there was a certain resemblance between them. Max's eyes reminded her a lot of Emma's.

"That's a weird coincidence," Ms. Harris thought.

"There you are, Emma," Ms. Harris said and looked at Max. "Thank you for taking care of her."

"No problem," Max said, "Actually, she's one of the less difficult ones."

"Yes, she's a very responsible little lady, aren't you Emma," Ms. Harris said.

"Yes, Ms. Harris," Emma said as on commando.

Ms. Harris and Max smiled in unison at the politeness of the little girl.

"Emma told me that she was hungry, and I know this great place across the street where they have everything from hamburgers to blueberry pies," Max said.

"Well, I guess most of the others are hungry as well," Ms. Harris said, "And we were planning on feeding them anyway so if you say that this place is good then it's a good finalist."

"They have this alien theme that I bet the kids will find funny," Max said.
Ms. Harris chuckled.

"I'm sure they will," Ms. Harris said.

"Are you eatin' too, Max?" Emma asked.

Max looked down at the little angel.

"Yes, I guess," he answered.

"Good," Emma said.

Max couldn't stop himself from smiling. There was something about that girl that made him happy. Or maybe it was just that she reminded him so much of Liz.

"Okay everybody," Ms. Harris said in a little louder voice to be heard over the chattering of the children. "We're going eating across the street. Everybody - find a friend and do not let go of that friend's hand. Do not start walking across the street until I say so and...stay calm!"
Ms. Harris turned to Emma as the other children started to group into two and two.

"Emma, you should go and find a friend," Ms. Harris said as Emma hadn't made any indication of any movement in the direction of finding a friend.

"Can I go with Max, Ms. Harris? He's eatin' too," Emma asked. She felt very safe with Max and wanted to stay with him.

Ms. Harris smiled at her and thought it was just so cute how they had bonded so quickly.

"Of course, Emma," Ms. Harris approved. "If it's okay with you, Mr. Evans?"

"Sure," Max said.


"Oh no! What's that?!" Isabel asked, sighing dramatically while staring out through the windows of the CrashDown with a frightened look on her face.

Michael turned around in his seat to take a look for himself.

"Shit! You must be kidding me!" he exclaimed as he saw the wild herd of little people approaching, heading for the CrashDown.

"Don't tell me they're gonna eat here," Isabel said under her breath. The doors to the CrashDown flew open and the chatter and laughing of twenty four-year-olds seeped into the restaurant.

"Oh God," the two aliens heard Maria murmur beside them.

Then Max stepped in. But he wasn't alone. He was holding hands with a little girl.

"Oh my God," Isabel whispered, "Michael!"

Michael looked at Isabel and after seeing her mixed expression he turned into the direction of her gaze. Michael saw that Max was holding one of the four-year-olds hand. The little girl had his back to him, but she had long brown shiny hair...and then she turned and Michael found himself looking at a miniature Liz Parker, with eyes that Michael would recognize anywhere. Brown, deep eyes with flickers of amber - Max's eyes. The girl holding Max's hand so tightly was unmistakably Max's and Liz's daughter.

TBC...