Chapter 5

Maria and Kyle had been so into their verbal fight that they hadn´t realized that they hadn´t been alone anymore. Just as they heard the shocked sucking in of breath outside the room they noticed that the door wasn´t closed and that they had been having listener. Exchanging a worried glance with each other they hoped that it wasn´t the person they feared it would be. Seconds later their worry was confirmed when Max stormed towards them, having clearly overcome his shock and was now glaring furiously at them. Michael stumbled after his friend, scared that he could do something stupid and trying to protect Maria.

" What did you say about Liz? Why have you told me she´s dead?".

Kyle immediately stepped in front of his sister, more than pleased to have an outlet for his anger and Evans was the perfect victim for him. There was so much anger that he was sure they were on the same level in their power. " Because you have no right to know anything about us or what happened. You choose to be cowards and getting the hell out of dodge before the shit hit the fan".

Max´ eyes changed suddenly their color, something that nobody had ever seen before. The guy was usually more in control and the only one getting visibly furious was Michael, who was as stunned about the change of his friend as anyone else in the room. " That doesn´t give you the right to lie to me about Liz, the mother of my son! And by the way we didn´t choose to leave, we were tricked into it!".

" Oh yeah, like I will believe you that bullshit!", Kyle was in a full flow and he wouldn´t let anything stop him from getting his frustration out. Frustration about the way his life had taken a spiral down since the aliens had invaded his normal life, even though it hadn´t been perfect it had liked it. He had been having friends, a lot of girls hanging on his every word and a future career at some basketball team. But that all changed the day Max " motherf***ing pansy ass " Evans had saved his life. " All you ever brought into our lifes had been destruction, pain and tears. Liz choose this other side because she hadn´t been having another choice. You left her and she was devastated and pregnant with your child. How do you think that made her feel! And why do you think Roswell is just a battlefield? Because Khivar is after you and the strange thing you have brought with you! We would be living a nice life if you wouldn´t have come into our lifes to ruin everything for us".

Maria felt the impact of the words more than she had expected, because part of her had felt like that, too at first. But then she had found the evidence that they hadn´t left willingly in Michael´s apartment and she knew that she couldn´t hold a grudge against something that had been out of their hands. Now she was just glad that they were alive and at the place they belonged to. " That´s enough now! I´m so sick to hear everyone complaining and being angry at each other. We can´t change what happened and we can´t take anything back, so we have to deal with the hands we have given".

Kyle turned his heating gaze on his sister, hating her for the first time and feeling a lot of his anger directed at her, something that had never happened. One thing he was still able blame on the aliens and their intrusion in their midst again. " I can´t believe you´re on their side after all we have been through! They hadn´t been there when Liz killed you, hadn´t been holding your dying body in their arms, witnessing the light dimming in your eyes and praying that god wouldn´t you take away from me, too"

" Please Kyle, I can understand your feelings and if they would have done all that you accused them I would be backing you up without thinking. But they´re not the enemy here and you´re letting your dark emotions cloud your senses", Maria heard too many noise in her head and it was making her slightly dizzy, one of the few downsides from her powers. Sometimes when they were too many people with too much thoughts around her, she couldn´t block everything and it was making her uncomfortable. Rubbing her forehead she tried to get the pounding behind her eyes under control. " In case you forgot aliens have saved my live. If not for them I wouldn´t be standing here, able to fight with you".

Like he had sensed her discomfort, Rath stepped into the room, immediately going to her side to make sure that nothing was wrong. Seeing the strain on her face, he knew that it was taking a lot out of her to stand there with all the tension thickly in the air. Even he was getting a headache from all the noise. " What is going on here?".

Max finally found the perfect opportunity to speak his mind now, after all the hard words he had to listen from Kyle. He couldn´t be quiet when he was blamed for things he hadn´t done and he would be damned if he let anyone not knowing what he had been through to get on earth again put him down. " We just had been getting told how much we aliens had destroyed lifes without getting the chance to defend ourselves. It is easier to point a finger at someone else if the life didn´t turn out like it was expected. I didn´t ask your father to help us, I didn´t ask to include you in our small group and I sure as hell didn´t ask to get stranded on a strange planet where I would be different than anyone else. Nobody had asked my if I wanted to be here or if I wanted to be a freak, I was born that way. You are human and you had the ability to be anything you wanted without having to be afraid to be detected or branded as unnatural, but you choose to stick with us, although nobody had forced you".

" I had to stick to you. My friends were into deep with you to notice the danger, someone had to keep them out of trouble", Kyle was two seconds away from strangling King Dick with his bare hands. Unfortunately his weird alien powers were faster and the light above them flickered a few times before the bulbs exploded in a rain of glass splinters.

Rath immediately turned Maria away, protecting her with his body and making sure that not one small would come near her. A beat followed where nobody dared to move until the spell was broken. Rath whirled angrily around, shooting daggers at Kyle with his eyes and growled low in his throat. " Are you mental? If you can´t control yourself then go and look for some other place".

Maria was finally in a standing position again and she patted his stomach with ease. She was still amazed how frightened he could be with such trivial like lightbulbs. Like they would attack her. He was too overprotective, but after she saw the accident with his eyes she cut him some slack and let his behaviour slide. " Kyle, why don´t you look how Ava is. You know how much the pregnancy is making her cranky".

" Yeah, I will do that", shamefully he hung his head, remembering that he promised to not lose his temper near his sister. It wasn´t like she was scared of him or about the fact that he would hurt her, but it was Rath that had threatened to kick his ass if he should get her in any danger. " I´m sorry", he mumbled before disappearing.

Maria felt bad for him and she thought she would visit him after dinner to talk quietly with him, to make her understand her point. She hated when there was tension between them, because as much as it pained to admit he was the closest she had to a brother and she didn´t want to lose that, especially over something so stupid. Facing Max she pointed her finger at him. " You should get off your high horse, you´re not on Antar here. This is our territorium and we are King and Queen here. If you got a problem with that, I can give you the direction to the exit. But remember you will go alone, because Xander stays with me".

Max was stunned into silence, his mouth closing and opening like a fish. He couldn´t believe her. She was threatening to take away his son away from him? Who did she think she was, that was still his child and if he would go he would take his boy with him. " You can´t do that! That is my flesh and blood", chuckling unamused he glanced at her icily. " And let´s face it, you wouldn´t be able to stop me from taking him with me".

" Try me and we will see what happens then", Maria pushed past Rath, ignoring his surprised look and the grin forming on his face. He knew what she was capable of, even without the added bonus of her mind reading. She had maybe no active power, but she was able to tap into his powers, which were a little more dangerously than those of the former king.

Max faced her dead on, not giving her the satisfaction of backing down from her glare. She was no match for him and he was aware of the fact that she couldn´t hold her threat. He wondered who would be the first to step away, hoping that it would be her. " You think. You couldn´t stop Liz from killing you, what makes you sure that you could stop me?".

Quicker than anyone could react Rath had him pinned against the wall behind them with his ellbow at the other man´s throat, making it obvious that he wouldn´t hesistate to choke him to death. The fire and the furious glint in his eyes was making him appear like the soldier he had been in his past life. " You just do as much as a wrong twitching and I will crush your windpipe faster than you can react. I will squish you like a fly if you come near her or even look at her funny. You can´t deal with your bitch having changed sides, fine. But don´t you dare hit her like that again or you will be sorry to have come back".

" Easy love, we maybe need him as trade at one point and we don´t want Khivar to complain to us that we didn´t take good care of his prisoner", Maria´s voice sounded colder than anyone had ever heard. It sounded so unlike her that it was like she was a different person, one that had no mercy or conscious at all.

Michael was still frozen at his spot, not quite having swallowed the knowledge that Liz had killed her and that she had been lost for him forever if the other batch wouldn´t have been there to save her. And it was strange to see Rath protecting her with such a passion that it was making him sad. He felt so out of place and unwelcomed, the same feeling he had been having when he had lived with Hank. " We can go if you want. We don´t want to make too much trouble".

Maria turned to him and her whole demenour softened instantly. She saw the pained gaze and she knew what he was thinking, pictures of Hank circling around her head. For a moment she was so happy that he was letting her in his mind, but the joy didn´t last long when she noticed that she had given him the impression that they shouldn´t be here. " Don´t be silly. You are more than welcome here, but we´re a tight group now and you have to earn your way back in it. You all will hear a lot more screaming towards you and believe me, it will be worse. But that doesn´t mean we´re not happy to have you back with us".

" Yeah as long as you undestand that the rules are different down here, we´ll get along fine", Rath released his bruising hold on Max, even though he couldn´t refrain from pushing him a little rough at the wall behind him, much to the displeasure of Maria who threw him a stern look to which he just shrugged.

Michael saw the silent communication between the two of them and he wasn´t sure if he could stand to be around to witness both acting like a married couple, seemingly knowing each other forever. But what other option had they at the moment? Roswell was gone, Khivar on the rampage and they pretty much defenseless against a whole army. " Seems like we don´t have another choice".

Maria smiled at him to take the bad mood a little out of the situation. She didn´t want to hurt anyone, but they had to be prepared for the same reaction from a few other people. Unfortunately she couldn´t prevent that from happening and thankfully most of the anger was directed at Max, so she could deal with it, especially after the way he had behaved minutes ago. " You make it sound like this choice is a bad thing. Dude you´ve gotta get the stick outta your ass".

" One more of that sentence and I forbid you to watch Supernatural. They just put this crap into your head", Rath grumbled, not understanding what she found so attractive at the one guy playing the older brother, Dean or something. Even if he had to admit he liked the show himself, but mostly because of the story and the drool worthy car. But he didn´t want to have her attention focused on another man, although that seemed to be a moot point now.

Maria stuck her tongue out at him, knowing he was as much addicted to the show than she was. He was just jealous that she was always making dirty comments about Jensen the one playing Dean Winchester. But she was a woman and that guy was a fine package and with the same charastically flaws than two people she knew. " Yeah right. Do that and I throw your nasty magazines away, I know where you hide them".

Rath chuckled, being sure she was bluffing and not feeling threatened from her. But the longer she glanced at him with the amusement apparent, he wondered if he should take her serious. Trying to stand her knowing gaze, he had to cave in after a while. " I have to go, gotta take care of something. See you at dinner".

" Don´t forget to mention your new hideaway to Sean and Kyle, they´re reading this shit as well", Maria called after his retreating back, barely holding her smile in. The guy was sometimes just too funny for words. Who would have thought that someone with his reputation could be so predictable and amusing. Turning to her company she saw their confused looks. " Let´s go people. I´m starving".

Michael and Max exchanged worried glances with each other before they followed her. She was a little strange and they were slightly scared of her. Minutes ago she was ready to rip someone apart and now she was acting like she was a cheerleader on dope. Cautionously they walked behind her, watching as many people around them greeted her with a smile, a wave of their hand or just said hello. It was a little weird to see her so confident marching through this dark hallway without seemingly a care in the world while the outside world was in mayhem. But maybe it was her way of dealing with all this and as long as it made her happy, they wouldn´t object. Hearing her sum a catchy little tune, they thought it was time to observe their surroundings. While Michael was checking the right side, Max did the same with the left. Unfortunately the only thing they could see was the walls around them with lamps illuminating the path. It was like they were walking through a tunnel, which wasn´t so far from the truth. Just here and there a door was indicating that it was a compound. Sometimes they could look inside a room and it was strange to see some sort of normal living arrangements there with normal people in it. Just as Max wanted to ask Maria how much people were living here when a lot of noise and the smell of food was hitting them. Glancing forward they almost forgot to breath at seeing the huge dining hall filled with so many people that it appeared like there were at a booked up pop concert. Men and women were walking around with trays or sat at one of the many tables eating or stood in line at the what looked like a buffet with many dishes. It was an unbelievable sight and slightly overwhelming.

" Don´t worry, you will get used to it", Maria had noticed immediately that her company was a little bit intimidating from all those people. She had been like that, too at first, but now she thought it was the most natural in the world to see the hall so full.

Michael had never been comfortable with so many people around and he was sure that he would have problems to adjust. Letting his eyes wander, he finally noticed Isabel. She was sitting side by side with Jesse, both smiling at each other and touching instead of eating. Near them was Brody, suspiciously glaring at Larek, who seemed to be really amused about the open dislike from his host and grinned at the human with delight. A little further down Sean was digging into his food like a starving man while Laurie rolled her eyes at his manner, complaining loudly about it to Ava sitting across from her. The alien girl was wrinkling her nose, but it was obvious that it was about the food and not the topic of conversation from the human girl. By closer looking it was apparent that she was with child and nobody could mistaken the overprotectiveness from Kyle as soon as he started rubbing her large belly. Everybody seemed to have found his place. Everybody except him.

Max let his starving stomach guide him to the table where the many food was, trying not to notice the strange glances thrown his way. Putting everything edible he could find on a plate he made his way towards his sister and her husband. Halfway there his son was making himself noticable loudly, waving his father in his direction, which Max instantly followed.

" Are you planning on moving anytime soon?", Maria realized that they were still standing at the entrance of the hall, even though she didn´t know the reason why she hadn´t walked inside already. Turning her full attention on Michael she detected the uncertainty in his eyes, the sadness that had always lingered on the surface and she immediately grasped his hand. " Let´s go inside. And don´t be scared they don´t bite as long as I´m at your side".

Michael faced her as soon as he heard her sentence, then his gaze fell on their interwined hands and the sparks of recognation flaming up again. He was relieved to know that it was still there, that some small part of what they had made them out had survived the distance and the long time. Repressing his urge to kiss her he smiled at her instead and let himself get dragged inside.

Rath came out of his hiding place, having just arrived from his trip to his small chamber where he was keeping all of his things that he didn´t want Maria to see. Even from the distance he had noticed the familiarity between her and her former lover, which he didn´t like. But he had known from the start that he would never have something like the both had been having, knowing that he just had been a substitute for the real thing. And until now he had been able to live with that knowledge. Turning around he walked away from the dining hall, having lost his appetite.

TBC