Chapter 2 of 5

May 8th

Liz breathes in deeply, her breasts heaving full over the top of her dress; the very thin straps are the only things holding her dress up. Silver glitter is sprinkled over the top stopping a little bit about the waist. She reaches over to the table in front of the mirror and grabs her necklace, a silver short chain with a three ruby pendant. Next she picked up her matching earrings, putting them through the holes in her ears and finally her ruby bracelet.

When she was sixteen her mother bought her the ruby set of jewelry, there is a ring that also goes with it but unfortunately she lost it while running from one of the many enemies her friends have. Her mother would notice of course that it isn't on her finger but she'd tell her she left it at home by accident.

Double-checking her make-up and hair and liking what she sees she walks out front to the living room grabbing her matching purse. Her parents should be here any…a knock sounds on the door. Hopefully Dad won't give her a hard time about her dress; it definitely isn't the normal kind of dress she'd wear.

Before opening the door for Mom and Dad she peeks out through the wispy white curtains to make sure it's them. Seeing it is she opens one of the double doors for them, "Mom you look beautiful, Dad you look so handsome." Liz hugs her mother; she's wearing a dark blue almost black pantsuit, with matching sapphire jewelry. Dad is wearing the classic tux, it rare to see him clean up so much for a party, but this party was different then the others he's gone too.

"You look beautiful to sweetheart." Nancy kisses her daughter's cheek smelling a faint aroma of strawberries. She and Jeff enter Liz's room it is slightly smaller than theirs is but still a very impressive room.

Jeff enters the room and closes the door behind him, "Are you wearing that tonight Liz?" The dress was far to revealing for his liking. This is his little girl she shouldn't be dressing provocatively.

"Yes Daddy, I'm wearing this." Liz eases on her long black leather coat, as she moves away from the couch the flowers Lex Luthor sent are revealed.

Nancy and Jeff notice the gorgeous flowers in the vase on the end table. "Lizzie, who sent those?" Jeff points to the bouquet, they are beautiful flowers but who besides them knew Liz had come with them. Neither she nor Jeff told Lex about their daughter coming, not to mention the room they got for Liz isn't the room she has now.

"Oh, umm, Lex Luthor sent them. They were already in the room when I got here. Are we ready?" Her head is down checking the contents of her purse to see if she has everything so she doesn't catch her parents combined worried expressions.

Nancy now knew Lex gave Liz this nice room; the hotel room she and Jeff managed to get was a two room, had a kitchen, bedroom, and living room all in one with the bathroom, obviously, in the second room. It worried her that Lex has taken an interest in her daughter. What could he want with Lizzie, is he just being kind or did he see her as something he can use and throw away?

A few minutes later the Parker family leaves Liz's room and hotel only to be greeted by a man in a tux, wearing a driver's hat. "Parker family?" The man asks.

"Yes, that's us, what's all this?" Jeff gestures behind the driver toward the black limo. They hadn't ordered a limo to pick them up, what is going on?

The driver bows slightly, "Courtesy of Lex Luthor, he wants you to arrive in style and he hopes you enjoy the experience." He opens the door for the family and watches as they reluctantly enter the limo.

Mr. Luthor demanded that he be polite and courteous to the Parker family. It would be Rodney's ass if the Parker's came to Lex that evening with less than flattering reviews of the ride to the party. He wasn't going to screw this up. Rodney closes the door and jogs up to the front of the limo, gets into the drivers seat and begins to drive the forty minutes to the hotel party is being held at.

Lex stares at his reflection in the mirror, he's pleased with what he sees. His tux is black, perfectly pressed in just the right places, his bald head isn't too shiny, he looks good. Impressing Elizabeth Parker is going to be a breeze. Ever since he found out she is attending the party with her parents he couldn't get her out of his mind.

Of course he's been interested in her since he saw her picture in the paper almost two years ago. Two tourists sold their story to any journalist that would listen about the disappearing bullet. The story was about Elizabeth and that she was hit by a bullet but when a young man ran up to her he healed her, or did something to her that wasn't normal because after doing whatever he did he and another teenage boy ran out like their asses were on fire.

The story struck a cord with him; he had survived an occurrence that he knew he shouldn't have. That meteor shower should have killed him but it didn't instead every ailment he had, asthma, colds, flu's, ever since then he has never been sick. But illness weren't the only things that were taken away from him, his red curly hair was as well. That Lex was kind of grateful for granted he was teased mercilessly for being bald, but having long red curly hair wouldn't have put him on the popular list either.

There is just a quality about Elizabeth that he can't name but he knows he has to get to know her. A bodyguard knocks on his hotel room door, waits for the young Luthor to give an enter order. "Come in." Lex straightens his bow tie, he can't stand bow ties but they are perfect for tuxes.

"Your guests are beginning to arrive sir. So far the Strome family and the Jacobson couple have arrived." Meredith tells his employer. He's been working for the Luthor Clan for over twenty years and by far he would rather work for Lex than Lionel. Lex has never threatened to fire him but with Lionel it was an hourly occurrence or at least it seemed that way.

Lex turns towards the heavily muscled man packing a 9mm he is a formidable bodyguard. So far in his five years of watching solely over him he's taken down three assassins and countless men trying to pick a fight with him for supposedly sleeping with their girlfriends. Not remembering 90 of the women he sleeps with he can never be sure if they're telling the truth or not.

"Thank you Meredith. Have the Parker's arrived yet?" He questions.

"No sir, Rodney called they are approximately twenty minutes away. Traffic." Rodney expressed his interest in both female Parker's. The young driver always blabbed about his sexual escapades, his favorites to talk about are when it's a mother/daughter team. He'll sleep with either the mother or the daughter first and within the next week he would have screwed the other too.

However Meredith had the distinct feeling that he lies about all his escapades. First of all if he has the skills he wouldn't have to brag about them, and two Rodney still lives with his mother and he's 27, never has moved out on his own, not exactly a great way to get chicks.

"Let me know when they do arrive."

"Of course sir. If I may ask, what is it about this girl that has you so riled up and wanting to meet her?" Every once in awhile he would catch Lex staring at a picture of a pretty brunette with big doe eyes and a dazzling smile. He'd asked about her once before but didn't get an answer just a glare from Lex.

"I feel a connection to her. I want to get to know her. Maybe I'll hate her but I gotta know why she pulls at me." He knew why, but it wasn't for his bodyguard to know.

Standing outside in the hot dry heat of May the Pod Squad, Maria, and Kyle continue to knock and ring the doorbell trying to get Liz's or the Parker's attention. A huge event has just occurred and they needed Liz's science know how to get answers, Isabel found a piece of metal and they needed it analyzed. While Max was all right with the science he wasn't the best and he wanted the best available to him and that is Liz. This isn't to say they believe her now about Alex's death being a murder but with the possibility of their enemies being in Roswell was more important than an argument.

"Where the hell is she? She has no other friends besides us where would she go?" Maria questions, getting frustrated at being ignored.

Deciding to bypass the formalities of being let in Max uses his powers to unlock the door behind the Crashdown and up a story to enter the Parker's home. They open the door and make their way inside; the home is eerily quiet, not a peep can be heard. "Hello?" Isabel yells through the upstairs apartment.

Seeing no one they automatically walk though the home and to Liz's room, the group would have gone up the ladder outside Liz's balcony but for some reason it was pulled up. The ladder is never pulled up even when no one's home at the Parker's. Entering Liz's room Maria turns on the light and the room is bathed in false light.

"Oh my God." Maria breathes.

"Where...what...why..." Max can't even finish his thought, Liz's room has drastically changed and not for the better. Gone were photos of her friends, except for Alex's picture and a photo of her family.

"Why would she just leave this stuff out where anyone could find it? Doesn't she realize how dangerous this is?" Isabel manages to whisper.

All over Liz's walls was a flow chart of every event that took place from her shooting onto Alex's death. Next to Alex's death she has a list of suspects some are crossed off but others still have question marks next to their names. Tess, Isabel and another name they have never seen before, Zanthra were crossed off. However Kivar's name, the Skins, Nickolas, and the FBI are still on the list.

Max turns toward the group, "whose Zanthra? That name rings a cord with me but I can't place it for the life of me." He scrunches his face up and tries to place it but he comes up blank.

"Zanthra?" Tess shuffles forward as in a state of shock. "No, how can Liz know that name." She blinks furiously and tries to come up with an answer but there is none that makes sense. Seeing the other's curious expressions she tells them. "Zanthra was Zan and Vilandra's father. He is kind to his own people but he viewed humans as inferior."

"And Liz has him on this list why?" Isabel questions Tess.

"I don't know how Liz knows that name but she thinks someone murdered Alex and if Zanthra was alive he definitely would be a suspect. Before Vilandra met Kivar she had been attracted to a human, she came to Earth regularly to be with him. When Zanthra found out he killed her lover." Tess explains, "But I don't understand how Liz knew that name." She confesses to them.

Other than the names and dates and events though there is nothing else up on the flow chart, but Michael can tell there had been. In certain places it is obvious that tape had ripped off some of the paper making up the flow chart. That raised some suspicions.

"There were other things up here, she must have taken them off before she went wherever it is she went too." He mentions to the others, he points out what he's talking about to anybody that might have missed it.

"We need to find whatever those papers are." Max commands, they'd have to look through Liz's room, which meant rifling through her dresser, desk, and computer, everywhere she might hide papers.

Practically reading Max's mind Tess speaks up. "She's going to know we've been in her room Max, her stuff strewn all over, messed up. I'm also assuming you mean to take her chart?"

"We have to Tess, we can't risk anyone else finding this." For almost three hours the group searches through everything and finds nothing. Whatever was apart of the chart wasn't there anymore, but if it wasn't there then where were those things? Isabel who had found Liz's journal behind the brick wall opened it and began to gloss through it.

"Isabel that's her journal." Tess argues. Searching Liz's room is one thing but reading her personal thoughts and feelings is a completely different playing field.

"Oh come on it's not like we don't know that every last thought and feeling in here is all about Max." She reads an entry written in November of 99'.

This is my first entry in a week, I've missed a few days. What did Michael mean when he said that anyone who read this journal wouldn't be finding out about his "Czech" origins but about me? Or when he said 'Thank you for giving me one more reason to envy Max Evans.' What else did he envy about Max? A strong family unit, good grades, an emotionally stable girlfriend? Or was it something like envying Max's emotions or feelings of security, knowing you have a warm place to go home too, unwavering friendship and an all your heart love? Whatever the envy is I will try to find out who Michael is, try to understand him. Not because I feel I have too but because he deserves to be known more than a friends boyfriend or a boyfriends best friend or even the group protector.

Max and Maria stare questionably at Michael, "When did you talk to Liz in November, and what did she mean emotionally unstable? I'm plenty stable." She scrunches her nose then continues with what she was saying before she got off track. "The only thing I remember happening around then was..." Maria pauses, "her journal went missing. But didn't Liz say a good friend brought it back? Since when are you and her good friends?"

"I asked her to not tell anyone, that it was me who took her journal, obviously she respected my wishes and only spilled the beans in her journal which I'm not surprised about, she writes everything in there."

"Alright there's got to be more in here about what she thinks about the rest of us." Kyle speaks up from the other side of Isabel grabbing the leather book from her opening it too another entry this one dated May 16, 1999.

I just left him, I left him so he can fulfill his destiny with Tess. Hearing that the man you love is supposed to be with somebody else, a girl that managed to squeeze her way into Max's life, Isabel's life and even Michael's life all because she's one of them. What's more attractive then someone of your own...background? In a matter of two months she managed to cut the ties I had with Max, the new yet strong friendships with Isabel and Michael. All of a sudden Maria, Alex, and I are chopped liver and Tess is everyone's top choice. I'm not really upset, just hurt. It's not like you can only have one friend or just friends of your own background. Why did God give us a heart? It just causes pain.

"Well that was depressing." Kyle complains he wasn't about to say anything else on the subject so he continued to read yet another entry, the last entry. This one is dated the day after Alex's funeral.

I'm all alone, no one believes me. Alex was killed by an alien I know it. Never again. Remember that Liz, never again. I'm now dead inside.

Maria has a hand over her mouth to cover the cry rushing to escape. "What, what do you think she meant by never again?" It made no sense.

"It can mean many things Maria." Tess explains, "Never again will I let someone be killed by an alien, never again will I trust...it can mean a whole myriad of things."

A trapped and claustrophobic feeling plagued Max, he needed to get out of Liz's room, he couldn't be there knowing that because he didn't believe her about Alex it contributed to her dead feeling. He still doesn't believe Alex was killed by alien, he refused to believe it, "Come on, grab the chart, put the journal back and let's get out of here."

20 minutes later

The second knock of the evening sounds on the door, Lex grants admittance and in walks Meredith. His tux slightly wrinkled and his hair is mussed but slicked back like he tried to tame the wild locks. "The Parker family has arrived Mr. Luthor." He announces.

"Thank you Meredith." His bodyguard turns to leave but Lex calls him back. "Tell Sandra that she and you have the day off tomorrow." Lex has seen the shy glances his cook and bodyguard have been sending each other. It was only a matter of time before they acted on their impulses.

Meredith grins and bows his head slightly in thank you before closing the door behind him. Lex straightens his jacket and takes a deep breath, time to meet the girl who's been in the back of his mind since he saw her picture in the paper. "Here I go." Lex whispers to his reflection.

TBC