Chapter 27


Max brought the car to a screeching halt and Michael threw forward by the sudden stop. He wasn't even going to comment on Max's reckless driving. Max had called him on his cell phone, practically ordering him to get out on the parking lot in front of his apartment complex, and Max would pick him up. Michael knew even before Max told him, that this had something to do with Liz. Nothing else could get him so reeled up. Max was out of the car in a millisecond and Michael reached over and applied the handbrake, to keep the car from wheeling backwards, before he rushed after Max.


Max searched the surroundings frantically. Where was she?

"Michael! Do you see her anywhere?" he said, his voice strained. He didn't feel comfortable calling after her. If someone was left here, he didn't want them to know that Liz was here.

"No," Michael answered.

Max run up the stairs heading for Liz's apartment. That's where he found her, in the same place she had made the phone call to him. She was sitting on the ground, her legs pulled up to her stomach. As she heard steps in the stairs she looked up, fear in her big brown eyes. As she saw him she rose to her feet and she didn't have to wait long to have his protective arms wrapped around her.

"You're okay?" he asked, pulling her an arm-lengths away from her to look her over.
Liz nodded. "I am now."

"I'm not leaving you alone again," Max murmured, hating that the feeling that he had lost her again had gotten the chance to reclaim its grip on him.

"Max, I don't know if there's still someone left," Liz whispered, the fear still evident in her voice. She felt violated. Someone she didn't know had been in her home, going through her personal things.

"Michael," Max said, as Michael came up the stairs. "Can you go and see if anyone is still in the apartment?"

Michael nodded and disappeared again. Max pulled Liz close to him.

"It's okay," he mumbled. He felt Liz nod against his chest. They stood like that, close together, arms around each other until Michael returned a few minutes later.

"There's no one there," he said. Max and Liz broke apart, and Max reached down and took Liz's hand.

"What did they take?" Liz asked.

"I don't know," Michael said, shaking his head. Together they walked to Liz's apartment. "But something's not right here, Maxwell."

"What?" Max asked, not liking the sound of that.

"Whoever broke in wasn't searching after the regular stuff a burglar would break in for," Michael said. They stepped into the apartment and Liz realized what Michael was talking about.

"The TV and VCR are still here," Michael said.

Liz let go off Max's hand and stepped into her once peaceful home. She moved to her bedroom and took forward the small box where she put money for groceries. The box wasn't difficult to find - it wasn't even locked. It was just an ordinary cookie box. But as she opened it and counted the money she found the amount to correspond to the amount she had left there.

"What have they taken if they haven't taken the TV, the VCR or any money?" Max asked as he looked at her from the doorway.

"Maybe it's something alien," Michael's voice reached them from the living room. Liz head shoot up and she quickly put the money back in the box and brushed past Max, who quickly moved to the side to let her pass.

"It looks like someone was searching for something," Michael said, his eyes fixed on Liz as she started to rummage through the bookshelf and then went on to search the piles of books on the floor.


Max went up to stand beside Michael, his eyes also following Liz's frantic movements.

"What are you looking for?" Michael asked her.

She straightened up, hurt and sadness, mixed with anger in her eyes.

"They're gone," she said, her voice hollow.

"What's gone?" Michael asked.

"The videotapes, they're all gone," Liz said and then she seemed to remember something and she crouched down in front of the VCR and pressed the eject button. A videotape was ejected and she slowly took it in her hand, hugging it to her chest - tears trickling down her cheeks.

"All, except this one. The last one you watched, Max."

Max looked at her, anger seizing him. Last night Liz had made it able for him to experience some of the moments of watching his daughter grow up and now someone had taken that away from him as well.

"What tapes?" Michael asked, completely in the dark.

"I filmed Emma as she was growing up," Liz said. "I showed them to Max yesterday, but now whoever has broken in has stolen them."

"Why would someone steal home videos? That doesn't make any sense at all!" Michael said.

"No.." Max whispered, fear slamming into him as he realized what had happened here. "These weren't regular burglars. They were aliens, they searched for information...and they found it."

Liz eyes went large with horror.

"Emma," she gasped and then she was out the door, running towards the parking lot.

"Michael, call Kira and wait here," Max ordered before he too vanished out the door.

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Max and Liz walked quickly down the corridor until they reached Emma's classroom. Without bothering to knock, Liz ripped the door open. Max quickly assessed the room he found himself in. Children were allocated throughout the room, engrossed in various playing activities. They all turned their heads as the worried parents stormed into the room.

"Elizabeth," Ms. Harris said and walked up to the visitors. She looked at the man holding Elizabeth hand in a death grip and soon recognized him. "Max, right?"

 
Max looked at her, and opened his mouth to respond but Liz beat him to it.

"Where's Emma?"

Ms. Harris looked at the distressed parents. Something was not right here. Elizabeth seemed scared to death. However, when she looked at Max she was amazed by the dormant power he was emitting. He radiated authority, and self-assertiveness. But she also noticed the worry that etched his features.

"Uh...she's in the bathroom," Ms. Harris said.

Liz started walking towards the bathroom, and Max was close behind her - but his steps were hindered as Ms. Harris reached out her hand and stopped him.

"What's going on?" she asked. She had never seen anyone so worried before. "And why are you here?"

Max looked at her, and gently removed her hand from his arm.

"We need to take our daughter home," he said.

"Why?" Ms. Harris said, not even bothering to ask if this man really was Emma Owens long lost father.

"She will not be coming back for a while. We have a little family emergency and we have to go away for some time. We will call you later with further information."

His determined look told her that she wouldn't get more out of him than that and that's when Elizabeth came back - Emma cradled in her arms. Ms. Harris couldn't help but be amazed by how a silent communication seemed to be going on between Elizabeth and Max. Elizabeth was somehow informing Max that Emma was okay and Max took Emma from her arms and held her tight to his chest. The most amazing thing was that Emma didn't say a thing. It was as if she could feel her parents distress and she didn't question it. It was like she knew that the best thing to do was to stay quiet.

"Do me a favor...uhm," Max began, searching his memory for her name.

"Anne," Ms. Harris said.

"Anne, if anyone asks for Emma, don't give them any information," Max said. Ms. Harris got the strange feeling that he was ordering her, but at the same time she had no problem with that. She somehow knew that they were in danger and she couldn't let anything happen to little Emma.

"I'll do whatever I can," Anne said.

Elizabeth smiled at her gratefully.

"Thank you, you've done tons already," she said, and then the small family was gone - just as quickly as they had arrived.

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The light-blue eyes followed the couple as they quickly made their way towards the car in the parking lot.

"What the hell?!" the person hissed as the child, tucked into the familiar man's arms, came into view. The person waited until the car pulled out of the parking lot outside the day care center before the person turned the car and ignited the engine, pulled out from its hiding place and onto the road - following the car on a distance that wouldn't cause any suspicions.

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"Why didn't you tell me?!" Liz demanded to know, anger in her voice. She was sitting on the couch in Michael's and Maria's apartment, Emma sitting on her lap. Michael was standing in the background, leaning against one of the walls, and Max was pacing the floor. Kira was sitting in one of the arm-chairs facing Liz, and he was just about to witness what Liz Parker was really about. You didn't keep information from her that could put her loved ones in danger.


"I didn't want to upset you," Max said.

"Upset me?!" Liz said in disbelief. "If this is how you're going to protect me, Max, I don't need your protection! Emma and I have been doing just fine for four years without you. We can protect ourselves. But I can't protect my daughter if I don't know the whole truth!"

"I'm sorry, Liz-" Max started but Liz interrupted him.

"No, Max. Don't say you're sorry. I don't want you to be sorry - I want you to be honest with me."

Max nodded, understanding what his effort in keeping Liz safe from the truth could have cost him.

"How long have our enemies known about Emma?" Liz asked.

"They probably found out not so long after Emma's birth," Kira answered. Liz nodded sadly, pulling Emma closer to her. Emma, feeling her mother's distress looked up at her mother's resolute jaw.

"Mommy, why are you scared?" she asked.
Liz looked down into her daughter's amber eyes and gave her a tender smile.

"It's nothing, honey," Liz said and stroke her dark hair.

Emma smiled at her, a smile that warmed her mother's heart. Emma knew that her mother wasn't telling the whole truth, but for the time being she was satisfied with the answer.

"Someone called me," Liz said.

Everybody looked at her.

"Who called you?" Max asked.

"That's the problem. I don't know," Liz said. "I was really freaked out about the whole thing. It was a man and he asked questions about Emma. He didn't want to answer any of my questions and he was threatening me, so I hung up."

"When was this?" Max asked.

Liz thought about it for awhile.

"Sometime just after I had enrolled Emma at the day care center...about a month ago."

"Could it have been one of our enemies?" Kira asked.

Without hesitation, Liz nodded. "Definitely."

There was a pause, then Liz spoke.


"Is there anything else I should know, to be able to keep my child safe?" Liz asked.

"One thing is clear, you can't return to your apartment," Kira said.

"And you can't return to Roswell," Michael said.

"Well, that's just great," Liz sighed. "Then where am I and Emma gonna go?"

"You can stay with me," Max said, not wanting to leave neither Liz nor Emma alone anymore. Not when the enemies were so close by.


Liz gave him a weak smile.
"Don't you live on campus, Max?" Liz asked. "How are you going to fit me and a four-year-old in your room?"

Max scratched behind his ear with his hand.
"Okay, maybe that's not the best solution," he said.

"Well, you cannot stay here," Michael said bluntly. Max shot him an angry glare.

"What? We don't have any room left. This is a small apartment you know," he said, having seen Max's glare.

"I know, Michael," Liz said. "I'm not gonna force myself on you. We have to find something else."

"Where do you live, Kira?" Max asked Kira.

"Well...I don't know if that's such a good idea," Kira said.

"Let us be the judge of that," Max said.

Kira met his eyes and knew that it would not be wise to argue against him.

"I'm living in a warehouse outside of Roswell," he said, but added quickly. "However, it's absolutely no place for a child."

"That would work, wouldn't it?" Max asked Liz, ignoring Kira's last sentence.
Liz nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes, that sounds really good," she said, and turned to Kira. "And don't worry about Emma, she'll understand why we have to live there and she will be just fine." She looked down at her daughter. "Won't you, sweetheart?" Emma nodded excitedly. She didn't know what a warehouse was but it was some place new and she had never lived in any other place than the apartment in Santa Fe.

"We'll be fine," Liz said, turning her gaze to Kira.

Kira looked a little uncomfortable. He was here to protect the royal four, and he had been forced to admit that the royal four now included Liz instead of Tess. He would also definitely protect Emma, the heir to the throne, and having them so close by would certainly make it easier. But still, the warehouse was no home. It was just a warehouse, and it was only furnished with a camp-bed and a lamp. He was only there to sleep - nothing else.

"I suggest we head out there now," Max said. "But only Kira, Liz, Emma and I. We don't want to act suspicious and the fewer people that knows about this place the better - for all our sakes."

"Hey, hold on," Michael protested. "You mean, the other of us are not going to be informed of your whereabouts?"

"That's exactly what I mean," Max said. "It will be the safest solution for all of us."

"No, I want to-"

"Michael, we'll keep in touch, okay," Liz said calmly. "If we need anything you'll be the first to know. It's only a precaution and it's probably only for now."

Michael grunted, but didn't object anymore.

"Okay, let's go," Max said.

TBC...