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 45: Family Matters

Liz directed Max to steer the jeep to the back entrance of her home. She did not want his presence to obstruct the business she came home to attend to. By coming in the back way, she anticipated that her parents would not see Max or his jeep. She knew the large bay windows at the front of the restaurant and the apartment upstairs would give them an unobstructed view of the vehicle she arrived in.

Max quietly rolled into a parking space at the rear of the Crash-Down Café. Maria parked her Jetta into a space beside his. She followed Max's jeep to find out if Liz's fear was correct. In the car with her were Michael and Isabel. They too were curious, but with far less dread for the answer.

Even before Max had switched off the engine, Liz was out of the jeep and hurrying for the back door of the restaurant. Once inside, she raced up the stairs to the apartment and found her mother in the kitchen.

"Where have you been?" A startled Nancy questioned sternly.

Liz moved to within two feet in front of her mother as she ignored the question. For a second, she hesitated to say anything as she stared into her mother's eyes with a mixture of fear and dread. In her absence to respond, Nancy repeated her question. An instant after she did that, Liz whispered a question of her own.

"Am I adopted?"

The question took Nancy by surprise. A look of shock suddenly appeared on her face as she stared back at her daughter. Seconds later a startled Nancy responded to the question with a question that she almost whispered.

"Where is this coming from?"

"Did you and Dad adopt me?" Liz asked again in a stern tone.

Nancy looked to be at a loss for words. The expression of fear on her face quickly grew more apparent. She held her breath as she pondered what response to give. A couple of seconds into her contemplation, Liz came to her own conclusion.

"I'm adopted," Liz whispered as she moved a step back with a mixed expression of fear and disbelief.

Liz concluded from her mother's silence that the answer to her question was yes. She knew if the answer was no, she would have quickly said so. The sudden realization that she was an alien was causing an almost overwhelming sensation of fear within her. Liz took two more steps back as she stared into the empty space between her and her mother. Nancy noted the terror in her expression and stepped towards her with her hands out.

"You're our daughter, Liz," Nancy assured in a near pleading tone. "That's all that matters. We love you as our own flesh and blood."

Liz had no response for that declaration, she continued to wrestle with the realization that she was somehow fundamentally different from everyone else on the planet. Her breathing became labored as her mind seemingly froze with shock. Nancy took another step closer and placed her hands on her arms to embrace her. Liz jumped back from that without thought and without returning her mother's gaze.

"We were going to tell you," Nancy quickly reported in a hushed voice. "It's just that we didn't know the right time, and as time went on it just … got harder. You were … you are our daughter. It just didn't seem necessary."

Liz's astonishment began to subside once she started processing the fear and concern in her mother's voice. For Liz, the ramification of being adopted was far more shocking than the reality of it. She knew her mother did not understand that and was probably experiencing some guilt about not telling her and a fear that she might resent her for that. She understood that her mother had no idea that she was giving no importance to the fact that she was not biologically related to her. And Liz knew that she could never tell them that they had adopted an alien from another world.

"It's alright, Mom," Liz suddenly spoke up to calm her mother. "I'm okay."

Liz began to back away towards the living-room and the front exit to the apartment. Nancy noticed that she was leaving and adjusted her look to one of concern.

"Wait," Nancy called out as she continued to extend her hands out in front of her. "We have to talk about this."

"It's alright, Mom," Liz quickly insisted as she turned away. "I'm okay. I just need to be alone for a little while."

"Wait," Nancy called back at her as Liz opened the door to the apartment. "How did you find out?"

"I'll be back in a little while, I promise." Liz declared back to her mother a second before closing the apartment door behind her.

The instant that Liz felt visibly and audibly separated from her mother she began racing towards the one place she most wanted to be at that moment. She hurried down the stairs at her best speed and ran out the back door. The first thing she noticed after exiting the building was Max, Isabel, Michael and Maria waiting for her. She paused to give them all a joint look and then she hurried over to Max and threw herself into his embrace. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face into his chest as tightly as she could. The others looked on without saying a word.

"No," Maria insisted with a shake of her head. "I'm not adopted," she insisted as she began moving back towards her car.

Michael immediately began moving with Maria as she moved away from the others. A look of concern was on his face, but no words came out from his mouth. At that moment, he could think of nothing to say that he believed would lessen her fears. Isabel was equally confused by the situation.

"I'm not one of you," Maria insisted as she moved still further back.

Michael reached out and took Maria by the forearm as he responded with a word, "wait."

Maria took a second to look Michael in the eyes and then spoke to him directly.

"It's not true. I'm not one of you," she insisted an instant before pulling away from Michael.

Maria turned away, raced over to her car and quickly got into the driver's seat. A second later she had the car started and was backing it into the alley. Michael's reactions were too late to stop her or join her. He could do nothing but watch as Maria put her Jetta into drive and speed off down the alley. Nearly a minute later, he, Isabel, Max and Liz were following her in the jeep. There was no doubt in any of their minds about where she was going.

LINE BREAK

Michael, Isabel, Max and Liz had been waiting outside of Amy's Balloons and Gifts novelty store for nearly ten minutes when Maria slowly walked out the front entrance with a stunned expression. Her hands and arms were crossed and clasped to her midsection. Her gaze stared into the empty space between her and the ground in front of her. Michael moved to intercept her. He stopped just in front of her, and she stopped in front of him. Liz, Max and Isabel moved in around her. Maria paused with a blank look standing a foot away from Michael. She took a step forward and leaned her body against Michael's chest. She then wrapped her arms around his waist, and he, in turn, wrapped his arms around her shoulders. No tears came from Maria. For several seconds she did nothing but hang onto Michael, and then he whispered into the silence:

"It's going to be okay."

A few seconds later, Maria whispered back the question that was driving her fear.

"What are we?"

They clung to one-another for many more seconds while Liz, Max and Isabel looked on with expressions of concern and empathy.

"We should get back to the soap factory," Max instructed in a hushed voice.

The five of them paused just long enough to pull their thoughts back into the here and now. Not more than a minute later, the five of them were on the road and on their way back to the abandoned soap factory. Just over eight minutes later Max's jeep and Maria's Jetta rolled to a stop outside of the dilapidated factory. Parked outside of the building was Jason's Ford Fiesta. The five of them knew that Jason and Aaron were inside the factory. They first felt the glow of their minds a minute earlier. They were also aware that there were two more minds in there with them, and that their minds glowed half as bright.

The five of them promptly exited the two vehicles and entered the abandoned factory with just a hint of trepidation. They all knew that the two additional minds had to be someone they had not seen yet. The five of them slowly walked into the storeroom in the back with searching looks. Their eyes quickly found Jason and Aaron and the two, attractive, teenage girls with them. The young lady standing next to Jason, hand in hand, was his girlfriend, Eve Glasser. She looked to be five-foot seven inches in height. Her hair was shoulder length; a dark brown in color and her physique was lean and attractive. She was casually attired in a tan tee-shirt slightly faded blue jeans and sneakers. The young lady standing next to Aaron, hand in hand, was his girlfriend, Ashley Trilling. She looked to be five-foot nine inches in height. Her hair was short; a very light brown in color and her physique was attractively athletic in appearance. She too was casually attired. She was dressed in a light blue string top tee-shirt, thigh length denim shorts and sneakers. Both girls had looks of fear on their faces. Jason and Aaron displayed mixed expressions of protectiveness and concern.

Over the next several minutes it was revealed in their discourse that Eve and Ashley were both seniors at Goddard High School and that the telepathy and telekinesis they possessed at that moment did not manifest within them until that morning. In turn, all present shared their histories with them in intermittent bursts of verbal confessions. Eve's and Ashley's fears increased with these narrations, and they quickly joined in Liz's and Maria's dread of who they were and what the future held for them. At the end of this time, their discussion was interrupted by the sensation of three powerful minds approaching. A couple of minutes later, Tess, Julie and Jeremy hurried into the storage room without Kyle. His absence was what all, minus Eve and Ashley, noticed most. All eyes focused on Tess with looks of concern. She quickly spoke to their unasked questions.

"We couldn't find him," Tess spoke softly with a confused expression and a shake of her head.

"What do you mean, you couldn't find him?" Michael challenged an instant behind. "Didn't you call him?"

"He's not answering his cellphone," Tess reported with an almost dazed look to her.

"Max," Isabel spoke up in a voice laced with fear. "If Kyle is one of us then there is no telling what he might do. We have to find him."

Max was already considering that possibility, as was several of the others there. What no one had at that moment was an idea about how to find him. In the absence of that, Michael chose to give them all, the worst-case scenario.

"The reason we can't find him is probably because he's at the Sheriff station telling his father right now," Michael fumed to no one in particular.

"You don't know that," Tess insisted sharply.

"Then why isn't he answering his phone?" Michael quickly countered.

Tess had no answer for that, and the others were equally stumped. After a few seconds of pondering Julie spoke into the silence between them.

"We shouldn't jump to conclusions. There could be another reason why he's not answering his phone."

"I agree," Max quickly supported. "Let's not overreact."

"Are you kidding me, Max," Michael responded abruptly. "We need to be thinking about getting out of Roswell."

"No," Isabel quickly countered in an alarmed voice. "Just because Kyle may have told someone that doesn't mean we have to start running."

"That's exactly what it means," Aaron countered calmly.

All eyes turned to Aaron for an explanation of that remark. After taking a second to note their attentions, he provided one.

"If Kyle is like us, then he's the one person we can't hide from," Aaron spoke softly but sternly. "And if he draws attention to himself then it won't be long before they start looking at everyone, especially us orphans out of the Holcomb Children's Home."

It was the engrained fear of being discovered, that they all had that was driving the conversation. It was that fear that had them all desperate to find Kyle and to bring him into the fold. Max was the first to reason past his fear and to consider the possibility that this fear could be working in their favor.

"If he is like us," Max calmly spoke up. "Then he's probably hiding what he is from everyone around him."

"That's right," Isabel quickly supported. "He wouldn't tell anyone. It's not in us to do that, you know that, Michael."

"I know it's not in me," Michael responded halfheartedly. "I don't know what's in him."

"I've thought about telling my parents on more than one occasion," Aaron announced casually. "I suspect most of us have."

Aaron looked at the faces around him after speaking those words. All were reluctant to disagree with that statement. Seconds later Jason spoke into the silence.

"But none of us did," Jason softly asserted with a questioning inflection and a glance into the faces of the others. "I think we keep trying to find him."

"I agree," Max supported an instant behind. "We can't react to worse case scenarios. If we're wrong, then it could be a major blunder."

"And if we're right, we're screwed," Michael softly suggested a second behind.

Everyone went silent to consider all that had been said. A few seconds into that moment Tess's cellphone started chiming.