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 54: Suspicions, Concerns and Reservations
It was a quarter past twelve at night when Kyle parked his Mustang in the driveway of his home. After getting out of the car, he walked around to the front door of the house. The neighborhood was quiet, and the lights inside the line of homes down the block were off except for his. The kitchen light was on, and there was a dim glow of light coming through the living-room window. That was not common for this time of night, but it was not unusual either. He knew his father to stay up late occasionally. Often these late-night vigils were held in his room, especially when he had no company to share the time with. It was his guess that his father simply forgot to turn off the lights before falling asleep.
"You and Tess are keeping some late hours now, aren't you?" Jim Valenti questioned seconds after his son walked through the front door.
"Yeah," Kyle answered hesitantly after closing the door behind him. "It was kind of a special occasion. It won't happen again."
Kyle promptly crossed the living-room and went into the kitchen, per his normal practice. A snack, and/or something to drink, was almost routine behavior for him upon his late-night returns. He noticed that his father did not have the television on when he entered, and he did not hear it on before entering. He guessed that his father turned it off when he parked his car, and he deduced that he wanted to talk.
Jim got up from the sofa chair he was sitting in and followed his son into the kitchen. He stepped just inside the doorway and watched as Kyle rummage through the refrigerator for something to eat. He had been waiting for Kyle to return, and over the course of his wait he had been plotting all that he would say.
"You and Tess are being careful?" Jim asked delicately.
Kyle was slightly shocked by the question and looked up from the refrigerator to respond to it.
"What? Yeah, we're careful. You don't have to worry about that."
"So, what was so special about today?" Jim asked, harking back to the word, special.
"Oh, Tess was just a little depressed," Kyle responded nonchalantly. "It was nothing really. I just wanted to be with her."
"Depressed about what?" Jim pushed for more.
Kyle had, by this time, produced a soda from the refrigerator and was chewing on a bite of a cold slice of pizza. Before answering he took the time to close the refrigerator, turnabout and swallow his food.
"I think she was just a little under the weather, that's all."
"Oh." Jim reacted with a pondering look.
"So, how was your day?" Kyle quickly asked ahead of taking another bite out of the pizza slice.
"The same, I suppose," Jim deflected with barely a thought. "What did you and Tess do today?" He asked an instant behind his reply.
"Wow Dad, you checking-up on me?"
Jim was checking up on his son and more. He particularly wanted to hear what answer Kyle would give to his questions. The meeting in the abandoned soap factory, between Kyle and the other thirteen teenagers, was already known to him. The Deputies under his command were actively watching the OSI agents who were watching the Roswell Thirteen. Several reports on that event were called into him earlier that day.
"I'm just interested in how my son is spending his time," Jim defended with feigned sincerity. "Is there something wrong with that?"
"No, I suppose not. I'm just not used to all the questions," Kyle responded with a slight display of annoyance.
Kyle was not displeased, but he wanted his father to think he was. What was motivating him at that moment was defensiveness. He knew, as did the other members of The Fourteen, that his father's officers were watching the watchers, and he had no doubt that his father wanted to know what the meeting in the old soap factory was about. Kyle knew he had to put on a performance that would satisfy his curiosity.
"Then it's not because there's something you don't want to tell me?" Jim questioned with a suspicious stare.
"Like what?" Kyle reacted with a look of incredulity.
"I don't know. You tell me." Jim calmly returned while holding his stare.
"You know, Dad, I'm tired," Kyle began with feigned irritation for this conversation. "I think I'm going to get into bed now."
Kyle walked over to the trash can and tossed the remainder of his slice of pizza. He then turned towards the doorway to the hall and his father with his soda in his hand. Before he could cross the distance, Jim queried him again.
"You still didn't tell me what you did today."
"I took Tess out to lunch," Kyle spoke with exasperation after stopping in the center of the kitchen. "And then we hung out at the park. Later on, we went to her house. I had dinner with her and her dad. And then we hung out there, okay?"
Jim heard nothing of what he wanted to hear, and that caused him a small amount of anxiety. He shortly calmed himself enough to appear indifferent about his next question.
"Then that wasn't you and Tess in the old soap factory building today, with some other kids?"
"Yeah, Dad, a few of us did a little exploring in the old soap factory building," Kyle softly grumbled out with a feigned look of suspicion towards his father.
"Why didn't you tell me this in the beginning?" Jim softly questioned.
"Because I knew you wouldn't approve," Kyle responded with a flare of exasperation. "What's wrong, Dad?" He then sharply challenged.
Jim ignored Kyle's question and quickly tossed back his own with a mildly sharp edge to his tone.
"Who were you with?"
"Is something wrong? Did we damage something?" Kyle asked with a hint of anger.
"Who were the other kids?" Jim asked again forcefully.
"Just some friends from school," Kyle hollered back.
"Friends like Liz, Max and Isabel Evans, friends like that?" Jim interrogated.
"Yeah, Liz, Max and Isabel were there," Kyle confessed with a nod.
"So, you and Liz are friends again?" Jim asked with an inquisitive inflection.
"I'm with Tess now," Kyle countered with a blank expression.
Jim had no real interest here. He had no doubt of Kyle's fidelity to Tess. He jumped from his last question to his next without the slightest hesitation.
"I'm guessing then, if Max Evans was there then that kid Michael Guerin was there too?"
"Yes, Dad, he was there too," Kyle confessed with a hint of resentment. "Is something wrong with that?"
"I just find this group strange," Jim casually responded. "I mean, why weren't you with your buddies? Where were Scott, John and Gary?"
"Tess and Isabel are close," Kyle began to explain as though he was stating the obvious. "And we just hooked up with her and who she was with. I haven't abandoned my friends if that's what you're asking me."
Jim took a pause to assess his son. He knew that the answer was reasonable, but he was convinced that it was not the true story. He knew that all the teenagers that were in that factory were under the scrutiny of the OSI, except for his son. What he feared most at this moment was that the exception was a lie.
"I want you to stay away from Max and Isabel Evans," Jim grumbled out after the pause. "And I want you to stay away from that Michael Guerin kid, Liz and Maria too. Is that clear?"
Kyle briefly considered debating that command from his father, but he did not want to be bothered with the pretense of acting like he did not know what that was all about. He knew that the order would be irrelevant in ten days, and between now and then, he had no plans to be in the company of any of them. In the end, he decided it was simpler to acquiesce.
"Okay, Dad," Kyle agreed with a shrug.
Jim was a little surprised by Kyle's consent without question or debate. He knew his son could be stubborn when he felt unjustly put upon. Because of his unexpected response, he took a few seconds to study Kyle for signs of insincerity. He had his doubts about the truth of everything he was told before, but this felt genuine to him.
"So, is that it?" Kyle questioned after a few seconds of returning his father's stare.
Jim hesitated to answer, and Kyle seized the moment to move towards the kitchen doorway. Just as Kyle took his first step, Jim added another name to the list.
"And I want you to stay away from Tess."
Kyle suddenly stopped when he heard Tess's name. He did not give the directive a second of thought before turning back toward his father with a fierce gaze. Kyle knew that in ten days this command would be just as irrelevant as the first. But Kyle was not prepared to surrender one minute of time to that order, let alone a day or a week. And he could not entertain the thought of lying to his father only to sneak around behind his back.
"I'm not doing that, Dad," Kyle, softly, defied.
Jim knew that he had reached the last bridge on his march toward the truth. He feared that any attempt by him to cross it might end with unforeseen consequences. Just the same, he felt he had to try. Because of her relationship with Kyle, Tess was the person Jim feared most. He knew that his son's attachment to her was strong and that he would likely not give her up without a cause of equal strength. The binding imposed upon him by the Governor precluded Jim from revealing the activity surrounding Tess. Because of that, he felt he had no other recourse but to stress the weight of his concern about their relationship without a reason why.
"Listen to me, Son," Jim earnestly implored.
"It's not going to happen, Dad," Kyle reasserted before his father could finish speaking.
"This is important," Jim rifled back forcefully.
"Dad," Kyle shouted back while moving half a step towards his father.
Jim was shocked by the force of this reaction. He had never seen his son this defiant before. He paused momentarily to note his demeanor.
"Whatever you're afraid is going to happen to me, is going to happen anyway. You can't fix it. And nothing I do, or don't do, is going to stop it," Kyle remarked in a softer tone.
Jim was taken aback by this declaration. He took a second to analyze it in his thoughts with a rumpled face of concentration. Kyle attempted to seize the opportunity that hesitation provided and walk away, but Jim quickly caught him by the arm.
"What aren't you telling me?" Jim gruffly demanded more than questioned.
Kyle preferred not to lie to his father and gave no response other than to return his father's stare. After a moment of silence, Jim rephrased his question without any lessoning of the tone.
"What have you gotten into?"
"Nothing, Dad," Kyle insisted without a hint of deception. "And neither has Tess."
Jim studied his son for another few seconds. Kyle stood still for this observation knowing that he had to satisfy his father's inquiry to end this inquisition.
"I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on." Jim advised a moment later in a voice filled with concern.
"Dad, there's nothing going on," Kyle replied earnestly and with a shake of his head.
Jim did not know what to take away from that. He could not be sure if his son was being honest with him, or simply playing a word game. He studied Kyle for a couple of seconds more before deciding to leave the bridge uncrossed. He elected, instead, to try a different route. Jim knew that the school year would be over in a couple of weeks, and he had been giving thought to the idea of a vacation away from home with Kyle before he started college. He figured now was as good a time as any to broach the subject. It was his hope that a separation from Tess would end their relationship, and/or keep his son free and clear from whatever was about to come down.
"I have some vacation time accumulated," Jim began hesitantly and in a gentle voice. "I thought we might spend some time together. … go away somewhere … just you and I … do some fishing … watch a few games from inside Rangers Ballpark. How does that sound?"
Kyle knew that was never going to happen. He also knew that the answer to his father's question was the most honest of any he had said so far.
"That sounds great, Dad. I'd like that. I would like that a lot."
LINE BREAK
"Sir, we've identified the new member of the group," Ryan reported stoically. "The information is being put into the system as we speak."
General Pittman had been out of his bed for less than an hour when he got this call from Ryan. He immediately stopped what he was doing and went to the secure telephone in his study to hold this conversation.
"Is he number fourteen?" General Pittman rumbled into the phone.
"He's a match as far as we can tell," Ryan answered.
"Explain," General Pittman ordered an instant behind.
"His name is Kenneth Russell Burton. He just turned eighteen, and his birth certificate is fraudulent," Ryan reported in a matter-of-fact manner.
"So where has he been?" General Pittman gruffly questioned.
"Cedar Rapids, Iowa," Ryan returned. "His parents moved out of Roswell when he was six, taking him with them. He's listed as a student at Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids. And he ran away from home three days ago. He left a note promising his parents that he would return."
General Pittman paused to consider that report. He then spoke up with a new question.
"So, why comeback now? What does he want?"
"I don't know, sir," Ryan blandly responded. "But clearly, whatever it is, it's somewhere in or near Roswell."
Despite the unemotional tone of his voice, General Pittman knew that Major Ryan was suggesting, once again, that the original thirteen were secretly communicating, and that they knew they were being watched. The General knew that if something was drawing number fourteen to Roswell, then that would explain why the other thirteen have not left. Despite the logic of that thinking, General Pittman preferred the simpler explanation that the Roswell Fourteen were ignorant of all that they were doing. His preference for that scenario was entirely motivated by the orders given to him by the Secretary of Defense. Allowing for the speculation that the fourteen were secretly watching them meant that his surveillance operation did not work. It also meant chucking out the neat and quiet collection operation that he devised. Both of those events felt like a failure that he was not prepared to admit had occurred.
"You're over thinking it, Major," General Pittman retorted a second later. "They're probably all here for a powwow."
"With all due respect," Ryan quickly countered. "All of our intelligence is telling us that there has been no contact between the original thirteen and this new kid."
"Their aliens, Major," General Pittman rifled back. "They probably set this up several years back."
"Sir, I've been watching these aliens for almost a year now," Ryan began with vehemence. "And the one thing that I have come to truly believe is that these aliens are kids. They're just a bunch of teenagers at their core."
"Don't presume to know why they're here, Major," General Pittman retaliated vocally. "That's not your job."
Ryan took several seconds to restrain his emotions. After bringing himself back to a near calm, he responded to that rebuke with a question.
"Sir, can I ask what's going to happen to these aliens after they've been collected?"
General Pittman was not expecting that question. A yes sir was the return he was expecting to hear. The fact that he got a question instead angered him more than a little. His response was heavily laced with that disposition.
"You may have gotten this ball rolling, Major. But don't make the mistake of thinking that I can't, or won't, pull you off this operation. And make no mistakes about it, Major; the consequences of that act will have a severe effect on your career in the Air Force. Do you understand me?"
"Yes Sir," Ryan acquiesced.