Connections 22

Max watched the girl as she walked away. She was different than what he'd expected. He'd been thinking she'd try to sweet talk them all, like Topolsky and Tess had tried to do, but she hadn't. Quite the contrary, she'd gotten out of the situation as quickly as she possibly could have.

But he still knew that she wasn't who she appeared to be, somehow. She was hiding something, something important. His first thought was a cover up for the FBI, but there were no files on her at all and she didn't have a professional attitude or anything, like Topolsky had.

It was after school and he was sitting at the Crashdown, awaiting the others. He sighed and thought, for what seemed to him to be the millionth time, where Liz could possibly be. She'd always been able to help him think of what to do in hard situations like this, when they were left in the dark. Maria came up in her waitress uniform and leaned on the booth's table.

"We'll find her Max. We have to." Max looked up into his friend's eyes and smiled weakly, but appreciatively. Maria returned the favor, then went to the counter and got him a Cherry-Coke, his usual.

As she returned, Maria stopped suddenly and almost dropped the soda she was carrying. Using her powers quickly and discreetly, she caught the drink without spilling any and lifted her eyes back to the person who had just entered the cafe. Samantha.

Liz walked into the Crashdown with her purse slung over her shoulder and her sunglasses firmly in place. Her eyes, she couldn't stand looking at them, they were too blue now, and she couldn't even do anything about it. She silently went to the stools and took a seat without looking around her at all.

She stared at the menu she knew by heart. It hadn't been changed at all, except the Redskin basket had been removed. She laughed softly, the first time in nearly a year, and looked up quickly as a woman came up to her from behind the counter.

"See anything you'd like miss?" Amy DeLuca asked the young blonde. Liz looked up at her in surprise and smiled slightly.

"I'll just have an alien blast, thank you, miss..."

"Oh, sorry, I really should be wearing a tag like the girls here, but hey, you know how it goes. Lemme introduce myself, I'm Amy Valenti. I own this restaurant."

Liz watched her smiling face in shock. Amy Valenti? She had married Valenti? Does she know our, their, secret? Too much at once now. Amy owned the Crashdown? Where were her parents then? She knew that Nasedo had done something to get them out of the way, but whenever she'd tried to find anything out, he'd stopped her instantly.

Liz took her sunglasses off, "Uh, nice to meet you Amy. I thought that someone else owned this place though. When I talked to some people I know here, they said that a Nancy and Jeff Parker owned it. I guess that's not true then, huh?"

Amy's face fell from the brilliant smile it had had and her eyes grew sad. "No, no, they were right. The Parkers did own this place, until about a year ago. They died in a car accident and their daughter went missing and hasn't been found. We were really good friends and they had left this place to me. It's the same as it ever was though...oh, hi honey, did you get table five's Will Smiths yet? Michael's got them all set I think."

Maria smiled at her mother, "I got them already mom. So, you've met Samantha I see. She's new at our school, isn't that right Sam? Anyways, what were you talking about?"

"Oh, this young lady had heard about how the Parkers used to own this place. I was just telling her what happened."

"Oh, sooo, you're interested in the previous owners of the Crashdown, huh? What exactly have you heard? I gotta tell you, a lot has happened in this place, a lot of good times, and a lot of bad ones too..."

"Yo! Maria! Table two's Mars combo is ready!" Michael's voice came through the order window loudly. Maria smirked and her mother went on to the register as a customer stepped up.

"I'm comin'! Alright, well, it was nice to see you again Samantha," Maria looked carefully at Liz for a moment and saw tears begin to fall from the girls' eyes. She leaned over closer to her and spoke up again. "Are you alright? Is something wrong? I know it can't be the food cuz you haven't had anything yet."

Liz shook her head quickly and raised her hand to her eyes without thinking. She ran her hand in front of her eyes in one swift motion and her tears disappeared. Liz looked up in time to see Maria's reaction to her actions. 'No, no, no, she can't see that, no, this can't happen, I have to go, this is too much...'

Liz stood up quickly as Maria continued to stare at her and Michael came out from the kitchen muttering something about combos getting cold.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I have to go now...I'm so sorry..." she excused herself hurriedly and began to move towards the door when she felt herself unable to move. Whatever was keeping her back turned her around to once again face Maria and Michael. That was when Liz realized that Maria was holding her hand out towards her and staring straight at her with a determined expression. Liz knew that expression and knew she couldn't stop the fiery girl in front of her. She wasn't even sure she wanted to stop her anymore.

Liz felt control of her body returning to her and saw Max walk up to the couple in front of her. They spoke to each other for a moment, then Maria grabbed Liz's arm and dragged her, Michael and Max following, into the back room of the Crashdown.

They sat her down on the couch at the far end of the room and stood in front of her, talking amongst themselves.

"What was so important about her that you had to risk using your powers in front of her?" Max whispered to Maria, believing Liz couldn't hear him, "I know we agreed to watch her, but that was dangerous."

"She has powers Max, powers like yours and Isabel's and mine and all of us. I thought that that was reason enough!"