Say What?
Author: Lexie M
Category: Sci Fi/Romance
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Although I probably would be extremely wealthy by now if I did, but sadly I don't own them, and I don't claim to own them. This is fiction and I am not making any profit out of this at all.
Pairing: M/L
Summary: The pod squad and their human counterparts find out some disturbing news. How will it change the balance of their world as they know it?
Warning: AU. The Parkers are aliens as well from the same planet as the Pod Squad. The Timeline is also a bit scrambled in accordance to the show to make the story flow.
A/N; Ok First let me say thank you to my reviewers. 2nd, I want to say Thank you for your patience. I know it's been awhile since my last real update. I also know this is short it's better than nothing right? Also forgive me for the Xs the line breaker option isn't working on my browser this week.
Recap: Previously on Say What?
"Please do me a favor Liz," Tess said as she looked out the window to what would be in just a few short minutes her final resting place. "Tell Lucas I love him. Tell everyone I'm really sorry for everything. I never imagined everything would get so out of hand. I also just want to say I'm sorry for all the horrible things I've done to you in this life and the last life."
"I forgive you Tess. I tell Lucas all about his brave, honorable and courageous mother. I'll let everyone know you were truly sorry. I'm sorry too for not seeing you as a person with feelings. I'm sorry for making you feel as if you didn't belong with us or apart of our group. You'll stay in my heart Tess as someone who may have had the worst of intentions in the beginning but the best in the end."
Tears were rolling down both girls eyes as Tess started exiting the car. Liz couldn't help watch Tess take her death march towards the installations main building. She watched as Tess melted a hole into the barbed wire fencing and run the quarter mile from the fence to the building. A few sort minutes later Liz saw the whole building explode and go into flames; a burst of sorrow filled her.
"Good bye Tess," she whispered. She wiped her tears from her eyes, started the jeep and started speeding away back to Roswell and to her family. She would have a lot of explaining to do in the morning but right now she needed to mourn the loss of her mortal enemy just recently turned good friend. "I will keep my promise. You have my word," she murmured.
XXX
Now on Say What?
XXX
Max had felt Liz leave the area surrounding Michael's apartment. He wanted to desperately follow her because only the heavens knew if anything else happened to her, he'd be on the war path.
He just couldn't fathom how closely guarded she was of her own secret but then suddenly become more of a liability than she had been in the past.
He got up silently and went around doing a head count. Liz hadn't been the only one missing from the apartment. Tess wasn't around either. He immediately went into heightened security mode, fearing the worst.
Over an hour and forty-five minutes later, Max was sitting in the dark as the front door slowly creaked open. He heard the intruder trying to walk as softly into the apartment as they could just as he was about to put a ward up, he felt the familiar connection he and Liz shared. He sighed in relief and quickly settled into the position he was in before she had left.
Morning arrived too early for the sleeping human hybrids. Each slowly and quietly rose from their slumber trying to determine whether or not the events of the previous evening had occurred.
Michael looked around the area of his living room and noticed that Tess was missing. Normally he wouldn't worry about what the young woman did but since they all just rescued Liz from the White Room her disappearance was suspicious. He really didn't trust the female but she had been pivotal in their quest for knowledge. "Where's Tess?"
Liz was sitting at her brother's breakfast bar, sipping coffee from a mug, her back to the rest of her messed up family. "She's gone." She replied to the aforementioned question in a soft voice. "She won't be coming back." She finished with some finality.
"What do you mean she's gone and won't be coming back," Isabel asked somewhat hysterically.
Maria had decided to walk in during the pause. "Ok so you all go Houdini on me last night and now it feels as if you're at each other's throats. What's going on?"
"Tess is missing and my dear old baby sister here is about to explain why?" Michael supplied as he walked up to Maria, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her forehead.
Maria looked at her best friend's back. Liz hadn't turned around yet. She had stayed awake since returning last night. She had laid down next to Max who had instantly wrapped himself around her in his sleep. She just stared at the ceiling wondering how she'd explain Tess' disappearance until sunrise. She hadn't been able to stand staying in bed and being wrapped in Max's arms after breaking his command. She had been tinkering around the kitchen when the rest of the Royal Family rose from their slumber.
Liz turned around in her seat and looked at the expectant faces staring back at her. "She woke me up last night and asked me to take her back to the Base."
Max who had remained silent through out the who scenario broke his silence, "I thought I made it clear. No one was to go back there." He said in a neutral voice.
Liz shrugged. "She left something back there that could have compromised your whole purpose of coming to get me."
"You're lying," Max said calmly as he stood up from sitting on the couch and walked over to Liz. He cradled her chin in the palm of his hand, looking into her eyes to search the truth.
Liz put up a mental block against Max's searching gaze. "Maybe, maybe not. She told me to say she was sorry for all the trouble she has caused us all and to tell Lucas she loved him."
"We're going back to that Base and get her," Isabel stated.
Liz shook her head. Max was still cradling her chin. His stare now blank.
"We can't go back," Liz stated. Just as she was about to continue a news bulletin came on to the television.
We interrupt this program for a special report. In the middle of the Arizona desert during the early hours of the morning an unidentified land mass exploded in the area behind. It is unknown whether or not the explosion was due to dynamite, gas line or arson. The area was known for having gas pockets hidden in underground caverns. No casualties were reported. These images were taken by aerial surveillance cameras from a satellite owned by NASA. We will keep the public updated on the findings of this spontaneous explosion, live from the Desert for NBC news I'm Wanda Hunter.
"She destroyed the Base," Maria asked astounded.
"Not only the base I imagine," Max stated while still trying to scan Liz's head. "She sacrificed herself in the process. It was a suicide mission."
Liz finally managed to shake herself out of Max's grasp and stood up walking away from the breakfast bar.
"You let her go on a suicide mission? How could you do that?" Isabel asked now full of compassion for the person who caused her life so much misery for the last two years.
"It was her why of fixing her past deeds," Liz explained. "She knew we wouldn't have trusted her anymore and she wanted to repent for her crimes."
"By leaving her child without a mother," Max asked with a tight control he hadn't know he was holding.
XXX
Special Agent in Charge Wilson kept watching the surveillance images and slammed his fists down on to the console in frustration. "How the hell did we let these aliens slip through our fingers. They were with in our grasps!" He yelled at the surrounding Special Unit members.
He pointed to the people sneaking into the now defunct Area 51. Four images melting through the electrified fence and infiltrating the Top Secret Base Area 51. "If Pierce were alive I would kill him myself. He let his arrogance get in the way."
"I want a team to investigate the area, cities and towns surrounding that base. They're still around. I don't care about tests. I want them terminated."
"Sir we've been hunting these aliens for over forty years. Don't you think that we should put our efforts towards another effort? They have out smarted our advances for the past three years and these are just the teenagers. This one here," Special Agent Elk pointed to a picture of subject number 1947-05 better known as Liz Parker. "She's more elusive then anything we've ever encountered and she is linked to this one 1947-01," he pointed to a picture of Max. "He seems to be the leader of the group. The two together are vulnerable yet unbeatable. And 1947-02 and 1947-03 complete what we can only assume to be a Dynasty considering that it appears that a specific group of mercenaries were targeting them as well. We can only assume that they too were aliens. These four and the one who blew up the Base they all have powers that could be useful to arm Earth with new weapons. Do you really want to be responsible for an intergalactic war?"
"I gave you orders which come down from the President himself. You assume that their planet still exists and I'm not going to waste my time with probabilities. Get your Squad and get them. We attack on Graduation."
XXX
Liz only looked at Max in disbelief. She shook her head of any negative thoughts and just smiled showing her amazement. "I spent six months helping you track Tess and Lucas down because you had a hunch they both were on Earth. I did all this because I love you and you think Tess left Lucas behind with out some kind of mother. Why do you think she asked me to escort her back to the base?"
Max looked into Liz's eyes again to scan her memories. Once again he was met with a steel wall.
"Stop trying to read me. You won't get through!" She ordered.
Michael smirked at the scene before him. Isabel and Maria just stared in amazement. Max looked put off. "How did you know I'm trying to read you?" Max demanded. He only ever thought that they could connect with mental visions with kissing or sex.
"I find that I'm starting to regain full control of my extra talents. Now I can't explain all her actions so stop thinking I can answer all these demeaning questions. She was sorry she took a desperate measure, and made her penance end of discussion." She grabbed her jacket and started walking to the door.
"Where do you think you're going," Michael demanded after he observed Max was dumbfounded by Liz's bold confrontation.
"I'm going home. Mom and Dad must be worried about me." She thought about walking but had a feeling the house was under surveillance. "You guys need to stay inside. We're under surveillance again. I'm going home by different means."
She put on her coat, closed her eyes and concentrated on going home in her head. She dematerialized in front of everyone.
"Wow that makes a lot of things clear," Maria stated. "I always wondered how she was always at one place in a second and gone the next."
"Maria focus," Isabel demanded rolling her eyes, "Liz stated we were under surveillance again. We need to find out what."
Max scratched his head, "She was blocking me." He stated in a moment of immaturity. "I can't believe she was blocking me."
Michael walked up to Max and smacked him hard on the back of his head. "Max focus. I'm going to look out the window and see what kind of surveillance is out there."
XXX
Liz materialized in her family living room to see her parents both with there hands on their hips and arched eyebrows.
It certainly wasn't a homecoming she was expecting.
"Isn't it great Jeff. She's finally retained her ability to teleport. Maybe she can start using her telepathy to let us know she's alright." Nancy stated in an annoyed tone.
Jeff just stayed quiet not wanting to have his wife's wrath turned towards him.
"Maybe we need to lock her in a White Room again and have a mad scientist attempt to dissect her and maybe she can once again blow up Top Secret Military Instillations."
Liz rolled her eyes. "Mom I didn't blow up 51." She countered in a bored tone.
"Really so who did Elizabeth because not that many people have that capability. Not Zan Vilandra or Rath," Nancy yelled.
It wasn't good when Nancy Parker started to use Antarian names. She was only grateful that her mom called her by her human birth name.
"We get saddled with Zan's bastard son and no one has the decency to call and say you were safe and sound. How the hell do you expect us to be your protectors if you don't fill us in?" Nancy screeched.
The sound woke up Lucas who was settled into a Moses Basket that lay in front of the fireplace. Liz quietly walked over to the infant and gently picked him up instantly bouncing him until he settled.
"Mom we were all tired. Most of us stayed at Michael's apartment. I swear I didn't blow up 51. It was Tess," she whispered while covering Lucas' ears. She somehow knew that the infant would understand what she was saying about his mother.
"Why would Ava…I'm mean Tess do such an honorable thing." Jeff Parker spoke up. He couldn't have Nancy's hysteria fill the room anymore.
Liz shook her head. "I really don't understand it myself but she and I came to an understanding before she went through her death march."
"The Government is now going to step up their measures to get all of you. They'll want to exterminate you. It'll make living here more dangerous then ever before. Now that the Granolith is destroyed we have no way of guaranteeing we will ever get back to Antar." Jeff reasoned. He didn't like talking doom and gloom but it seemed that the Government's neck breathing is going to be harder then ever.
Liz smiled. "I know. I sensed a surveillance team outside Michael's apartment."
"Hence the teleporting," Nancy concluded. "You just left them to deal with the surveillance. Why?"
"Max basically accused me of killing Tess. He basically said that Tess left Lucas to his own devices. It hurt because I know deep in my heart that Tess wouldn't really trust anyone but me to be a mother to this little cherub," Liz said looking down at the now sleeping Lucas in her arms as she lightly swiped his bangs off his forehead. "We had an understanding and I realized that she really only wanted someone to love her. That person was Max I think she finally realized he would never return her love. I'm sorry it took her two lifetimes."
Nancy smiled at her daughter. "As much as I don't like you using the selfish card. I'm sorry your feelings were hurt. Your love triangle has been happening for a better part of seventy years altogether. She achieved what you never have in the past two lifetimes," she said sympathetically. "She managed to have Zan/Max's child and I know that stings. It takes a strong person to step up and take parental responsibility for another person's child especially when that person went out of their way to make your life miserable."
Tears were welling in Liz's eyes. She didn't understand these latent emotions. She wanted to be relieved that Tess would never harm her again but at the same time she felt sorry for Tess' loss of life.
"You need to go back to Michael's and you need to figure out how to deflect the Special Agents for the time being," Jeff added to his wife's monologue. "We'll watch Lucas for a little while longer. Combat strategizing sessions are no place for children. You're so young and I'm sorry we can't help you out of this. But you know we won't let any extreme harm come your way. I know you're grieving for Tess and we all know she wouldn't want your pity. Tess was strong and you are strong. Annihilate these Agents it's you or them and I'm not about to have vigilantes take all of our lives again."
Liz nodded, even if the scene seemed somewhat uncaring, she knew that her survival as well as the rest of her "family's" survival was of the utmost importance. "You're right," she kissed Lucas' forehead and whispered into the infant's ear, "Your Mommy loved you very much, so much that she sacrificed her life to protect you. I'm going to make sure that your Daddy and I carry on her legacy for you."
She handed Lucas back into her mother's arms, stepped back, closed her eyes and concentrated on Michael's apartment as her final destination. She dematerialized within seconds of her eyes closing.
"Look they're out there and we're in here. We have to show them we're not afraid," Michael argued to Max.
"Show who we're not afraid of what," Liz asked as soon as she got her bearings as she rematerialized in Michael's living room causing both Maria and Isabel to shriek in shock.
"You need to give warning when you do that," Maria demanded impractically, her hand covering her chest to try and tame her pounding heart.
Isabel looked ready to vaporize Liz, Michael and Max seemed to share Isabel's idea.
"Whoa guys, relax." Liz stated putting her hands up in surrender. She maneuvered herself to the window to see what they were all talking about. She smirked when she saw two government officials sitting in a black tinted window Mercury Grand Marquis. "Well what do you know. I was right."
"Stop gloating what are we going to do?" Isabel asked in an irritable tone. She was pacing back and forth
Kyle had decided to walk into the apartment while Isabel was in mid pace. "What's with her?" He asked no one in general hoping for the random answer.
Maria had her arms crossed over her chest shaking her head while putting her hands up in protest, "Didn't you see the G-Men in that black sedan parked outside on the curb," she answered indignantly.
Kyle shook his head back at the blonde. "I saw a black sedan. I didn't look inside. We don't always have to be paranoid every second of everyday Maria. The person or persons in that car could be waiting for someone who's late," he answered naïvely.
The room was silent after Kyle's naïve answer. "Ok no I'm in the shunned club. What's going on?"
Michael crossed his arms which he usually did when it came to his dealing with Kyle. He arched an eyebrow and said. "My sister has her abilities back. She sensed the G-Men outside before she conveniently dematerialized herself out of my apartment to her house and rematerialized just a minute before you got here. Using the untypical trait of gloating, she looked out the window and said she was right! Now we need to figure out what to do about them."
The last statement made the room go silent.