Many of the characters within this story, and the universe they inhabit, are the intellectual property of Jason Katims Productions.

Roswell: Re-Imagined

Written by Horatio Jaxx

Chapter 28: Home Again, Home Again

The ride home was a quiet one. Max sat silently in the back seat of his parents' car as his father drove. The look of anger and disappoint in Phillip's eyes could be seen in the reflection off the rear-view mirror. Diane sat quietly by her husband. She anticipated his anger and was not sure how to react before seeing the scale of the blow. It was ten minutes before five in the morning when the three of them walked through the front door of their home. Isabel was sitting on the living-room sofa waiting for them to arrive. Phillip went to the center of the room and slowly turned back around. His gaze was towards the floor. His face was a mask of introspection and frustration. Diane took a position near to her husband, but at a right angle. Isabel was visible in front of her. Max closed the front door behind him and moved to a position directly opposite his father and stopped.

"Okay, Max," Phillip spoke up with a brief shake of his head followed by an angry stare. "What the hell was that about? What were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry, Dad," Max softly responded with a look. "It was a bad decision …"

"A bad decision," Phillip roared out his interruption. "Do you have any idea what could have happened to you and that girl?"

Max had no response to this as he evaded his father's stare. Isabel watched the conversation with worried interest. Dressed in pajamas and bare feet, she sat with her legs folded up against her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Diane watched the conversation with wide eyed concern.

"Forget about the legal consequences," Phillip continued to roar. "Forget about this being a federal crime that could have ended up permanently affixed to your record … and that girl's."

Diane's anxiety increased with the level of Phillip's discourse. She raised her left hand to encourage her husband to calm down. Phillip stepped forward to move away from the gesture and put his hands on his hips in frustration while holding an angry scowl directed at Max.

"You could have been killed, Max," Phillip hissed in a milder tone and a stern stare.

"I'm sorry, Dad," Max responded softly. "It won't happen again."

Phillip shook his head as he looked towards the floor. His anger was seemingly spent. Dismay was the look that shaped his expression.

"I'm disappointed in you, Max," Phillip continued in a soft voice. "I expected a whole lot better than this from you."

Max continued to stand in silence with a look of embarrassment over his father's disfavor. Phillip continued to shake his head in disbelief for another few seconds before ending his tirade with his adjudication.

"Okay, you're grounded for a month," Phillip declared sternly. "The cost of impounding, the towing, and the repair of the jeep are coming out of your allowance. I'm very disappointed in you, Max."

With that said Phillip left the living-room and went back to his bed.

"What is it, Max?" Diane softly inquired as she stepped in front of her son. "What are you not telling us?"

"I'm telling you everything, Mom," Max responded with a shrug.

"No, you're not," Diane contradicted at near to a whisper. "Does it have something to do with that girl, Liz?"

"No, Mom," Max quickly denied. "We were just exploring, and we got lost. Liz is just a friend."

"A very pretty friend," Diane gently asserted as she studied Max's reaction.

Max was slightly befuddled by that comment. He was not sure how to respond or to react. Diane studied his hesitation carefully and then spoke up at the end of her analysis.

"You're hiding something. I know you, Max. You would never have gone onto that missile range, let alone take someone else, if the reason wasn't important enough for the risk."

"Mom, I just got lost," Max denied with a shake of his head.

Diane gave her son a two second study, and then she gave her final adjudication.

"Tell me, or don't tell me, that's up to you, but if this is an example of what comes with knowing Liz Parker, then I don't want her in my house."

"This is not Liz's fault," Max quickly defended.

"She lied to me, Max," Diane retaliated in a stern voice. "She said you were going to the show, and you didn't."

"I lied to you, Mom," Max corrected with a desperate inflection just as Diane turned to walk away.

Diane stopped in response to that declaration and turned back to face her son head on. She gave him a couple of seconds of study with a concerned look on her face, and then she responded with the only answer that she could think of.

"You have that luxury, … she doesn't."

Diane gave her son another second of study and then left for her bedroom. Max watched her disappear behind her bedroom door. He then walked over to the sofa and flopped down beside Isabel.

"You took Liz with you?" Isabel whispered at Max.

"She insisted," Max responded halfheartedly. "I didn't have a choice."

"Of course, you had a choice," Isabel asserted beneath a constrained whisper. "You always have a choice, Max."

"Okay, it was a mistake," Max grudgingly acquiesced.

"So, you're going to stop seeing Liz," Isabel questioned after a brief lull?

"I'm not seeing Liz," Max denied softly. "We're not dating," he added in a vacillating voice.

"Whatever you say, Max," Isabel responded a second behind.

"Have you heard from Michael?" Max questioned to change the subject.

"Yeah," Isabel blandly responded. "He came back hours ago, him and Maria."

Max pondered that for a moment and then responded with a one-word question.

"And …?"

"It was a waste of time, Max," Isabel dryly whispered. "The whole thing was a waste of time."

Isabel promptly got up and left for her room after that. Max went to his moments later.

LINE BREAK

"I'm sorry, Dad," Liz pleaded in the living-room of the apartment that she and her parents lived in above the Crash-Down Café. "Things just got carried away. We didn't mean to do anything illegal."

Jeff was pacing about the room with a furious scowl as Liz gave her excuses. At the end of her statement, he spun around to glare at his daughter as he spoke.

"I don't want you to have anything to do with that boy from now on."

"That's not fair," Liz insisted in a near weeping tone. "It wasn't Max's fault. It was my idea."

Nancy was watching this argument unfold with a steady stare, a fixed stance and with her arms crossed. She studied her daughter from nearly ten feet away. A look of anger and concern shaped her facial features.

"He was driving the car!" Jeff rifled back at his daughter. "He turned onto that military installation! He's the one who took you over one-hundred miles outside of Roswell without my permission! You are not to see that boy again."

"Mom," Liz implored to her mother. "You can't do this."

"Well Honey," Nancy replied sternly. "We just did."

"You can't tell me who I can and cannot have a friendship with," Liz defiantly cried out.

"You listen to me young lady," Jeff angrily asserted with a point. "You will do as I say."

Liz gave no response to that other than to cross her arms and stare back defiantly. Nancy noted that her daughter was not going to be bullied by this tact and became even more concerned for her daughter.

"Liz, what happened to you," Nancy entreated with a look of concern.

Nancy lowered her arms to her side and moved two steps closer to the response she was expecting to hear.

"Nothing is wrong," Liz reacted with a sincere expression. "It was just an adventure that went bad."

Nancy ignored her daughter's denial and quickly reshaped her inquiry.

"Honey, is there something you want to tell us?"

"There's nothing to tell," Liz responded with a confused shrug.

"Have you been experimenting?" Nancy probed delicately.

"What?" Liz reacted with a look of shock.

"Is that boy into drugs?" Jeff questioned in a commanding tone.

"No," Liz responded with a look of astonishment.

"The reason why we're asking is because we heard that Max has a close friendship with a boy named Michael," Nancy continued to explore.

"Max and Michael are not into drugs," Liz insisted in a definitive tone.

"So, you know Michael too?" Jeff bellowed angrily.

"They're just friends, Dad," Liz asserted stridently. "They've known each other since grammar school."

"Did you know that Michael has been arrested—twice?" Nancy quickly inquired ahead of her husband.

"Yes, Mom, I do," Liz responded dryly. "He has troubles at home."

"Oh, and that makes it alright," Jeff challenged with a mixture of sarcasm and anger.

Liz paused to shake her head in disbelief.

"You're getting this all wrong," Liz spoke up after a moment of thought. "Max is a good person. He saved my life."

"It's okay to be grateful to someone," Nancy advised in a soft tone. "Just as long as you don't take that gratitude too far. Honey, your grades have been declining ever since you started up with this boy. He's bad news."

Liz shook her head again as she whispered out, "you're not getting it."

"Well, you get this, Liz," Jeff declared forcefully. "I don't want that boy in my restaurant. I don't want to see him again."

"And you're grounded for a month," Nancy added an instant behind.

Liz took a few seconds to study the expressions on her parent's faces. She could see that nothing she could say, other than the truth, was going to shift them from their positions. At the end of that time, she turned and went to her room, slamming the door behind her.