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 33: Twin Tornadoes

Jim Valenti had no particular interest in arresting Liz. Given his history with her parents and his knowledge of her, he would have preferred to have let her go with a warning. However, it was his interest in Max that made it necessary for him to bring her in as well. He had his suspicion that Max was hiding something, and that Liz was involved somehow. The White Sands adventure never sounded right to him, and the loss of the blood test performed by the Air Force had been bothering him for weeks.

His running into Max and Liz at the Rave was coincidental. There was talk of a possible Rave coming as early as the Thursday just past. He had extra officers on standby just in case the rumor turned out to be true. When the call came into him that the event was actually taking place, Jim was at home relaxing in his favorite chair. He went back into the office to personally manage the raid because of the potential harm that kind of police action could do to him.

Raves over the past two decades had a history of producing inexplicable events. Accidents, fights, knifings, rapes and the drugs and alcohol that fueled them were all part of their history. Along with these was more than one accusation of police brutality. Jim was all too aware that these were the children of taxpayers and voters who lived in Chaves County. He knew that this event more than most had the potential for derailing his career. His initial concern was to see to it that everything went down without any detrimental mishaps. The arrest of Max Evans was simply an opportunity he could not let pass.

Jim had no reason to dislike Max Evans. It was simply the secret he believed him to be hiding that was driving his interest in him. He saw the arrest as a chance to delve into the boy's life. He particularly wanted to know if Max had a substance abuse problem. He requested that Max submit to a sobriety test the moment they arrived at the station. Max calmly agreed to that and passed the test without a trace of alcohol in his system. It was partially because of that result, Sheriff Valenti had no intention of filing charges against Max or Liz for any offenses that they were vulnerable to. And he every intention of releasing them with most of the others that he collected in the raid. However, he was his practice to require the parents of all the minors to come into the station to collect their children.

Phillip and Diane Evans were the first to arrive at the Sheriff station. They went quickly to the Deputy Sheriff sitting behind the front desk and announce that their purpose there was to retrieve their son, Max Evans, who was picked up for attending an illegal event. The Deputy asked them to have a seat and wait, and then he made a call. There were three other people there waiting in chairs along the wall opposite the Deputy Sheriff's desk. They looked to be parents as well. Phillip and Diane took seats with them. A few minutes later, Jeff and Nancy arrived. The Evans and the Parkers noted each other with looks of disdain. After reporting their purpose for being there to the Deputy at the front desk, the Parkers took seats, only two chairs removed from the Evans. They sat there in silence for all of one minute, and then the silence broke.

"From now on," Jeff angrily began with a point. "I want you to keep that boy of yours away from my daughter."

"I think I should remind you that Max saved your daughter's life," Diane insisted as she leaned forward to glare at Jeff.

Nancy quickly jumped up on her feet to respond to that remark. Diane followed her lead. Jeff and Phillip stood to the support of their wives.

"That doesn't give him the right to destroy it now," Nancy loudly countered with a scowl.

Their loud and angry discourse immediately caught the attention of all present in the reception hall. The Deputy Sheriff gave it only half his attention. The other half of his attention was concentrating on the telephone conversation he was a part of.

"Hold on now," Phillip strongly spoke up with a raise of his hand. "You're making an assumption that Max is the one who's at fault here. I think I should let you know that my son had no blemishes on his record up until your daughter entered into his life."

"Liz is an honor student," Jeff announced fiercely. "She was getting straight A's in school before your son came along."

"Max is an honor student as well," Diane insisted sternly. "And he would never do anything that might harm or endanger anyone."

"Oh, I suppose White Sands doesn't count," Nancy bellowed back.

"Once again, you're making my son out to be some kind of Svengali who's been leading your daughter astray," Phillip challenged with a look of incredulity.

"Your daughter was in that jeep by her own choice," Diane asserted angrily. "And if anyone has been leading someone astray, it's your daughter."

"You got to be kidding me," Nancy almost laughed back with an astonished inflection. "Liz isn't the one hanging around with a juvenile delinquent."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Diane countered with feigned wide-eyed astonishment. "From what I hear, Maria DeLuca isn't exactly Snow White."

"You bitch!" Nancy roared as she stepped into her words.

Diane matched her anger with a defiant stance.

"Hold on, hold on," The Deputy Sheriff loudly instructed while racing out from behind his station with his hands out in front of him. "You're all going to find yourselves arrested if you don't settle down."

The Evans and the Parkers began to calm themselves as they returned to their seats. Their seething tempers were the final remnants of their angry discourse. Once they had settled back into their chairs and returned to waiting in silence, the Deputy Sheriff went back to his desk.

It took another few minutes for Max and Liz to emerge from somewhere within the stations complex to the reception area. By this time the other three parents had retrieved their children and two more parents had arrived and were waiting for theirs. Liz and Max were released into the open area of the reception hall. There was no formality to this, and there were no papers to be signed. Once the escorting officer opened the door for them, he went back the way he came and closed the door behind him. Liz and Max went to their parents with looks of trepidation. They, in turn, got to their feet at the sight of their approach.

"Hi," Max announced meekly to both Phillip and Diane.

Diane gave him a faint smile. Phillip gave him a look of annoyance.

"Come on," Phillip instructed a second after Max stopped in front of him.

Phillip then led the way towards the front entrance. Max and Liz exchanged looks as he passed.

"What do you see in that boy?" Jeff angrily questioned.

"It's not what you're thinking," Liz quickly defended. "Max is really nice."

Nancy studied her daughter with a look that said she was trying to comprehend what was going on in her mind.

"I know all I want to know about that boy," Jeff declared definitively. "You are never to go out with that boy again. I won't allow it."

"That's not fair," Liz exclaimed with a shake of her head. "We didn't even go there together."

"So, you went there with Maria," Nancy questioned knowingly.

Liz was reluctant to answer the question, but she did so a moment later.

"We just wanted to see the Rave."

"And who was she with?" Nancy questioned sharply.

Liz saw where the questioning was going and decided to say nothing in place of a lie.

"I don't know what's going on with you, Liz," Nancy continued in a soft but stern voice. "But what I do know is that this boy, Max, is not good for you. You need to stay away from him," she finished with nearly a plea.

"Mom," Liz answered back in a pleading tone of own. "You can't stop me from seeing Max."

"No," Nancy responded softly. "But we can send you away to a boarding school."

Liz gave her mother a look of shock.

"You have a plan for your life, Baby," Nancy continued. "Remember? We just don't want you to throw it all away now."

Liz looked at her mother with a shocked expression. Suddenly her father spoke up and drew her attention to him.

"Your mother and I have been discussing it," Jeff advised firmly. "If you get into any more trouble involving that boy, we're sending you away to a boarding school."

Liz gave her parents a look of defiance before responding with an inflection to match it.

"Can we go now?"

LINE BREAK

"What's gotten into you, Max?" Phillip questioned in a demanding tone. "You meet this girl and then, all of a sudden, you can't stay out of trouble."

Phillip, Diane and Max had just entered the front door of their home when he voiced that question.

"This was not Liz's fault, Dad," Max quickly countered.

"So, you're trying to tell me that this is who you are?" Phillip questioned with a stunned expression. "Because I know different, Max," he asserted vehemently. "I watched you grow up. This is not you."

"It was a Rave, Dad," Max insisted. "Lots of kids go to those things."

"I don't care what other kids are doing, Max," Phillip insisted stridently. "It's your life, your future that I'm trying to protect."

"What's this about, Max?" Diane interjected suddenly with a surprised inflection. "You obviously like this girl. But does she like you?"

"I went there by myself, Mom," Max insisted.

"I don't think you've been to a party, let alone a Rave, since you've turned ten," Diane insisted sarcastically. "Don't even try and convince me that this night was your idea."

"You're wrong about Liz, Mom," Max pleaded with a nod of his head. "She's really nice. You'd like her."

"Well, Max, that's not what I'm hearing," Diane softly contradicted.

"What? What are you hearing, Mom?" Max queried with a look of surprise. "Hearing what from whom?"

"That doesn't matter," Diane gently deflected. "What matters is that this girl isn't who you think she is."

Max suddenly understood where his mother was getting her information from. He realized that his reaction was limited by that knowledge and became all the angrier because of that constraint.

"Whatever you're hearing, it's not true," Max insisted sternly.

Max paused to gauge the effect his words had on his parents, and then he spoke again.

"May I go now?"

"You're grounded, one month," Phillip advised flatly.

Max said nothing in response. He hesitated only long enough to take in that report and then he turned and went to his room.

"You lied about Liz," Max softly accused a second after closing the door.

Isabel was sitting in the chair behind the computer desk in Max's room waiting for him to come in.

"I told them that she's trouble," Isabel replied equally as soft. "And she is trouble for us, Max."

"No, she's not. We're trouble for her, Isabel," Max countered gruffly.

"How is that, Max? How are we trouble for her?" Isabel quickly questioned back with an astonished inflection. "Is someone going to come along and want to dissect her brain?"

"You're the one who wants to be normal," Max challenged back. "Relationships are a part of being normal."

"If we get too close to someone then they could find out about us," Isabel argued back.

"Liz already knows," Max asserted in a hushed voice.

"But her parents don't," Isabel protested. "Her friends don't. What happens when she gets angry with you? What happens, Max, when you break her heart?"

Max took a moment to ponder Isabel's questions.

"Liz won't give us away," Max gently replied with an introspective stare.

A moment after hearing that, Isabel got up out of the chair and went to the door. She stood there for a few seconds with her hand on the doorknob, and then she gave her parting response.

"You know what, Max; that sounds like famous last words."

Isabel then opened the door and left the room.