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 53: No More Waiting

"Mom, Dad, this is Kenneth Burton," Isabel introduced with a smile. "He's a senior at Goddard. I met him when I ran into Tess and Kyle at the park."

Phillip and Diane were more than a little surprised to see Isabel introducing a boy to them. This was a first, and they were both pleased and intrigued by it. They took quick notice that their daughter seemed to be almost protective of the tall stranger in front of them. She stood anxiously by his side, but slightly angled towards him. She held her hands behind her back as though she was trying to stop them from doing something else.

"Hi, Kenneth," Phillip greeted pleasantly after getting up off the couch and extending his hand.

Kenneth shook his hand with a tentative smile and a soft, "hello, sir."

Diane got to her feet an instant behind her husband. She offered her hand to Kenneth as well along with a large smile followed by a "hi, Kenneth."

"I invited Kenneth to dinner, if that's alright?" Isabel queried her parents with a hopeful expression.

"Oh, sure," Diane quickly responded with an eager inflection. "Your brother went to the show with Liz. So, there's more than enough for a guest."

Diane and Phillip had been waiting for Isabel's return to eat dinner. It was family protocol for any member to call if they were not going to be home in time to sit down with the family. Max had already done that, but Isabel was expected to appear. She had not called to say otherwise, and they were, at that moment, at the start of their dinner hour.

"So, I'll just set another place at the table," Diane quickly acknowledged an instant before rushing off to the kitchen.

It was five pm, Saturday. Isabel and Kenneth had just met two hours earlier in the abandoned soap factory. When the group of fourteen decided to disband, Isabel was reluctant to separate from him, and he felt the same way towards her. She promptly asked him home for dinner and he accepted just as quickly. Isabel had no idea where things would go from there and gave no thought to that. She was simply gratified that for the next couple of hours she would be in the same place as he.

Over the course of the dinner, Phillip and Diane made polite conversation with Kenneth about family, school and future plans. He entertained their inquiries with as much charm and wit as he could manage. Isabel endorsed every reply and remark with either a smile or a laugh, and she doted on him whenever she could. Phillip and Diane took special notice of their daughter's interaction with Kenneth throughout the dinner. They had no doubts that she was attracted to him, and they were nearly equally convinced that he felt the same way about her.

Phillip and Diane saw no reason to be anything but happy about their daughter's choice for a boyfriend. Kenneth was amicable, polite and well spoken. A minor reservation they did have was motivated by the fact that Isabel had just met him. However, that notwithstanding, they were very happy for his presence because of the pleasant effect he was having on her. Phillip and Diane savored this dinner more for Kenneth Burton than the meal.

LINE BREAK

"Why are we going to Maria's?" Max asked as he steered his jeep through the streets of Roswell.

"It's just something that I have to do," Liz answered casually as she looked away.

"And you can't tell me what that something is?" Max questioned suspiciously. "No, so just drive," Liz responded and admonished at the same time.

Max and Liz had just finished dropping Isabel and Kenneth off at the Evans family home and were supposed to be on their way to the Galaxy 8 Theaters. Liz requested this date at the end of the meeting at the abandoned soap factory. She had told Max that she did not want to spend the evening performing for his or her parents, and that she preferred to go someplace where he and she could be themselves. Max had no objection to that. Making polite conversation and watching his words was never his idea of a fun evening. The recent discovery that agents of the OSI were going to collect them in less than two weeks made this alone time with Liz even more valuable to him.

They had been a minute away from parking the jeep inside of the Galaxy 8 Theaters parking lot when Liz took the call from Maria on her cellphone. Max noted from the tone of their discourse that something of significance had happened. He did not think to ask about it at the time. He expected Liz to advise him after the call. When she instructed him to turn about and go to Maria's house, Max's curiosity spiked, and that became doubly so when Liz declined to satisfy his inquiry regarding their new destination.

Max had noted that Liz looked to be a little ill at ease ever since they left the soap factory. He attributed that to the event that happened inside the building. But it was her reaction to the sound of her cellphone ringing that started him to wonder if something else was behind her agitation. It seemed to him that she might have been waiting for the call because of the speed of her answer. Still, Max was not overly perturbed by that suspicion. He expected to learn all once they arrived at Maria's home.

It took them less than ten minutes to negotiate their way back to the other end of the city and the front door of Maria's house. Max noticed upon arrival that Maria's car was in its usual place, beneath the car port, and he gave equal attention to the fact that Amy's car was nowhere in sight. Max's immediate assumption was that Maria and Michael were alone in the house and that this event had something to do with the four of them and nothing to do with Maria's mother. That assumption held right up to the moment that he and Liz stopped outside the front door. To his surprise, Liz did not ring the doorbell. Instead, she reached inside her shoulder bag, retrieved a key, and then unlocked and opened the front door.

"What's going on?" Max questioned after stepping through the doorway behind Liz.

Liz closed and locked the front door behind them before turning to Max to address his question.

"We have the house to ourselves," Liz softly reported as she stared affectionately into Max's eyes.

Max came to an immediate understanding of what was happening. He returned Liz's stare with a knowing look but said nothing in response. Liz added to her explanation that Maria took her mother out to a show and a meal, and she promised to stay away for three hours.

"She's going to give me a call when they're on their way home," Liz added to dispel Max's hesitation.

After that explanation, she took Max by the hand led him through the house and into Maria's bedroom. She switched on the lights after closing the door behind them. The room was uncluttered. That contrasted with its usual appearance, but Max had no knowledge of that. He had never seen the interior of Maria's room before. The bed was perfectly made up with a fresh sheet, bedspread and pillowcases. On top of the bed were sprinkles of red rose pedals.

"I'm not sure we should be doing this," Max softly confessed with a vague expression and a barely perceptible shake of his head.

Liz knew that those words conflicted with what he wanted to do. His arousal had grown beyond him to conceal. She suspected that he was trying to protect her in some way from the difficulties to come by avoiding an added complication. Knowing that, Liz quickly resolved to stop his logic processor from telling him what to do. Stepping forward in one quick motion, she moved to within a little more than an inch from Max and gently placed her hands on his chest before responding in a tone at near to a whisper.

"No more waiting."

Max was not physically disinclined to this idea. At that moment he wanted to make love to Liz more than he had at any time in his past that he could remember, and he understood why this was so important to her at this moment. They both could be on the run for their lives in less than two weeks, but his mind told him that they should not allow that to be the deciding factor. His desire for her in that instant was exerting tremendous pressure against his belief that he should not be having unprotected sex with Liz.

"Liz," Max began tentatively as he stared plaintively into her eyes. "I-I don't have any protection."

Liz gave Max a momentary stare while giving that report a smile. She then moved back to the head of the bed, reached under the pillow and pulled out a four-link chain of condom packets. Max gave them a brief study as they dangled down from between Liz's fingers. He then rushed forward, grasped Liz's waist between his hands and lifted her up into a passionate kiss. She, in turn, threw her arms around his neck and answered his ardor with equal ferocity.

Nearly a minute later, their kissing transitioned into a series of frantic caresses. Their lips and their hands began exploring each other's body, and their clothes soon became impediments to that effort. They began removing their clothes in haste in between caresses and kisses. Halfway through that endeavor, they spilled onto the bed. They continued to kiss and caress for another few minutes, and then they stopped. It was as if a sudden awareness had come to them both. They looked into each other's eyes for a couple of seconds, and then they removed the last articles of clothing between them. When that was done, Liz reached for the condoms that had fallen on the floor. She and Max then climbed up onto their knees in the center of the bed, facing each other. Liz tore open the top packet between her teeth and her fingers, and then she rolled its content about Max's member. That act alone nearly caused Max to ejaculate. He pulled Liz into a long passionate kiss before pushing her backwards onto the bed. Liz reclined into that effort while kissing Max feverishly. A minute later he was in her. Several minutes later they had both reached their climax.

Exhausted, Liz and Max laid in bed, in each other's arms, panting away their exertion from just having made love. For more than a minute they said nothing as they enjoyed the intermingling of their bodies. At the end of that time their feelings found a voice. Max confessed his unrivaled love for Liz, and she reciprocated the same. Shortly after those confessions, they started to gently kiss. Several minutes later their kissing graduated into a frantic effort to satisfy their passion for one another. That expanded into lust, and that quickly grew to its full intensity. Shortly after that, he was in her again.

LINE BREAK

"So, I'll see you tomorrow," Kenneth acknowledged hesitantly as he looked over to Isabel. "Yeah," Isabel responded nervously. "I'm looking forward to it."

Isabel had just driven Kenneth back to his motel in her mother's car. The two of them sat awkwardly in the front seats smiling and blushing at one another. Neither of them knew what procedure they should observe here. They both understood that their group of fourteen was divided into couples, and they could feel the attraction they had for one another. The situation felt unusual and natural at the same time. Because of that feeling, and the knowledge that they were meant for each other somehow, they made a date to meet again the next day.

Scheduling their next meeting was awkwardly done to progress the relationship they knew was to come, but even as they did that they desperately wanted to kiss. At that moment, they both were being governed by the social protocol of not being overly familiar with someone they just met. Despite his personal knowledge of Isabel since the merge, he did not feel it was right to assume that he could just kiss her. At that moment he wanted to do far more than that, but he feared brushing aside social norms that might be governing Isabel's behavior. He also assumed that she had a time limit on how long she could be away with her mother's car. After looking at each other with longing stares, Kenneth suddenly gave his, "goodnight," and climbed out of the vehicle.

Isabel was surprised by his sudden departure. She feared, at first, that she had done something wrong. She watched him walk away with unsure steps. After taking several steps, he stopped and looked back as if he did not want to leave. Isabel concluded in that moment that he wanted to kiss her every bit as much as she wanted to kiss him.

"Wait," Isabel shouted a second after jumping out of the car.

Isabel then slammed the door behind her, hurried over to a startled Kenneth, threw her arms around him and kissed him passionately. Without hesitation, he reciprocated that feeling by squeezing her into the kiss. After holding the connection for nearly a minute, they separated and moved a half step back. They stared into each other's eyes with a faint smile upon their faces. A moment later, Kenneth spoke the only words that were in his thoughts at that moment.

"You want to come in?"

"I thought you'd never ask."