Chapter 4a

A bus pulled outside of the Crashdown, the doors opened and a duffle bag dropped down onto the ground before two black boots jumped down next to it. A hand reached down and picked up the bag and the figure slung it over his shoulder. He had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes that were hidden behind the black glasses he wore. He wore a black t-shirt and black jeans.

His lips curved into a half smirk as he looked at the Crashdown sign that were flashing brightly and made his way over to the alleyway and made his way through it till he came to stairs. He walked up the stairs and knocked on the door only for a red haired woman to answer and she smiled brightly when she saw the male.

"James!" she greeted as she hugged him and led him into the house before shutting the door behind them.

James Parker made his way into the living room where Jeff was sitting; he looked up and smiled when he saw James.

"Hey James," Jeff greeted as he hugged his nephew.

"Hey Uncle Jeff," he greeted as he clapped his uncle's back before pulling away and looking around. "Where's Liz?" he asked.

"She is out of town at the moment," Nancy told him and James nodded, looking at his aunt curiously. He knew that she and Liz never really got on, the adults knew about it but never actually explained it to him. He knew that the answer would reveal itself sooner or later. The truth always got out

"So, what are you doing here?" Jeff asked and James looked at him, puzzled.

"Aunt Nancy called me, she asked me if I wanted to spend the rest of my school year down here," James told him. "Mom agreed because my grades has been kinda slacking and she is hoping that Liz would rub off me and help me bring up my grades," he explained and Jeff looked at Nancy before looking at James.

"Great, Liz would be able to help you, so would the rest of her friends, Max is pretty smart too," he told him.

"I think you are better off not being near Max. Liz's grades has been suffering slightly whenever she is near him," Nancy told James. "He's the type of person who likes to lead girls astray."

"Isn't Max Liz's boyfriend?" he asked. "I remember her telling me about him when she called me once, she sounded really happy," James told her and Nancy shook her head.

"No, Max isn't a good one," she told him and James nodded.

"Okay, I'll have a look out for him," he told her and Nancy nodded.

"Good, maybe you can help Liz realise that she has her whole life ahead of her and she is too young to get involve right now," Nancy suggested and James looked at Nancy, curiously. She wanted him to meddle with Liz's relationship? He decided that he would ask around town and see what everyone thinks of Max; he had a feeling that Nancy wasn't telling him the whole truth.

"Nancy…" Jeff started and Nancy shook her head.

"No Jeff, you agreed with me. Max is not Liz's type and she is far too much young to get involve with anyone," Nancy shot at him and he backed down, eyeing his wife, he was going to have a word with her later about this.

"Okay, I'm gonna head to the spare room and place my stuff in it," he told them and they nodded as James left the room and headed over to the spare room and threw his bag into it before hurrying over to the door and listened carefully.

Maria blew a strand of her blonde hair out of her face as she moved closer to the hatch and placed the order on the spinner.

"A plate of Space Fries and a Will Smith," she informed and Jose nodded as he turned back to the grill and Maria turned back to face the door, when she saw a familiar figure heading toward the door.

The door jingled as Alex opened it and smiled when he saw Maria.

"Hey Maria," Alex greeted as he stepped into the Crashdown and Maria smiled.

"Hey Whitman, how is Sarah?" she asked in a teasing tone and Alex laughed.

"It's just a tutoring," Alex protested and Maria lifted a shapely eyebrow causing Alex to nod in defeat. "Okay I like her but I don't want to get involve straight away, not after Isabel," he explained and she nodded.

"Okay, but I think Sarah is the one who will help you get over Isabel, she really seems like a nice person," she informed him and he nodded.

"How is it going with Michael?" he asked and she scoffed.

"Don't talk to me about him," she told him. "The jerk has been ignoring me," she informed and Alex sighed.

"He really does seem to want to follow his destiny," Alex told her and she nodded.

"I know, I just wish that there was someway I could get over him," she admitted and Alex smiled sadly at his best friend.

"Don't worry Ria, if I can find someone, there is more than hope for you," he promised as he reached over and patted Maria's hand, causing her to smile at him.

"That Alex, you're the best," she told him before leaning over to kiss him on the cheek and moved over to the hatch where Jose had called out 'order', leaving Alex to watch her, wondering what he could do to help Maria.

"What is your problem?" Jeff demanded. "God Nancy, you brought James up here so he could keep an eye on Liz!" he snapped. "Whatever happened to trusting Liz?"

"Liz is too young to get involve with anyone," Nancy told him. "Max will use her and break her heart, I don't want to see Liz like that. She deserves better than Max."

"Isn't that for Liz to decide?" Jeff asked. "She is been great of judgement, so why are you all of a sudden questioning her?"

"Jeff, she started lying to us ever since that day of the shooting, everyone says that Max was in the Crashdown that day yet Liz is saying he wasn't, she is covering for him. Not to mention all the late night trips and the countless of camping trips she had been taking. Add in the fact the Principal found them in the eraser room and they cut two academic classes. She snuck out of the house not so long after that, came back and shouted at me then snuck off the whole night with Max and came back with him the next morning," Nancy pointed out. "He is leading her astray!"

"Nancy, I think you're over reacting," Jeff told her and Nancy scoffed.

"Our daughter is sneaking off each night, not to mention she has run off with the same guy in question!" Nancy snapped. "James will help Liz to get back on track and hopefully scare Max off before he can ruin her life even more and leave her heartbroken, or worse, pregnant and alone," Nancy stated before stalking off, leaving Jeff frustrated at what was happening.

James listened from the other side, he frowned in confusion at what was going on; Liz was sleeping with Max? Liz had told him everything that happened, about the whole night trip and being caught by the Principal and heading out into the desert. He knew that there was something more than she was willing to tell him but he trusted her to tell him when she was ready. But hearing Nancy go on about Max being evil basically made him go on defensive, he had a feeling that Liz was going to face hell when she came back and promise that he would be there for her.

Time to visit a few of his friends that live in Roswell, maybe they could give him the low down on the characters that Liz was hanging out with.

James made his way back over to the Crashdown, confused at what was going on. So far, Nancy was the only one who seemed to hold a grudge against Max Evans. Everyone he had talked to said that Max was the silent kid, the girls lusted after him but he only ever seemed to notice Liz. There was a rumour of a shooting but it was dismissed as they never recovered the bullet and no one was harmed. They did tell James of the time where Max and Liz had been caught in the eraser room and they were quite happy about, they all said it was about time that two them made a move on. They became close after the shooting and they finally got together.

He had asked them about Nancy and they told him that she had been like that since Max and Liz had spent the night in the desert, she wasn't happy, as far as they knew, no one in either side of the family was happy but no one made such a big fuss as Nancy did.

Puzzled he moved closer to the Crashdown, he remembered Liz telling him about Max being beated up by Kyle's friend because he dared to breath in her direction and how Max had helped her to say goodbye to Grandma Claudia. He felt his heart clenched whenever he thought about Claudia, she was the best grandma any of them had and he knew that Liz and Claudia were very close, to see her die must had taken a toll on her and he was grateful that Max was there to help her.

He remembered how Liz told him that he wished Max would give in and give their relationship a chance, she told him it was because he had been abandoned by his parents at a young age, she thought it was keeping Max from having a relationship and was happy when Max finally gave in.

He shook his head as he stepped into the Crashdown and stopped when he saw a familiar blonde talking to a familiar dark haired guy. He smiled as he eyed Maria up and down, taking in the changes that her body had been through since he last saw her and had to admit that the Crashdown uniform was really making it easy.

He walked over to them and watched as Maria looked up, eyed him with curiosity till her eyes widen in recognition.

"James?" Maria asked and James smiled.

"Hey Ria, you've grown up," He stated and she smiled slightly with Alex shaking his head, amused. "Hey Alex," James greeted and Alex nodded.

"Nice to see you again, James. How come you are here?" he asked and James smiled.

"Aunt N asked me to stay, I'm coming to school here," James explained and Alex nodded.

"Cool."

"Is Liz about?" James asked and the pair of them looked at each other.

"Liz is a bit busy lately, she is out of town working on a project for school," Maria explained and James nodded.

"Cool, let me know when she comes back, I want to surprise her," James told her and Maria smiled.

"You most certainly will surprise her," Maria said, flirtingly, and Alex bit back a smile at the sight of Maria flirting with another person.

"See you around Maria, looks like Roswell is gonna be fun this year," He stated with a wink before heading up the stairs to the Parker's apartment and Alex turned to Maria.

"Look at you, the smitten kitten," Alex teased and Maria slapped him, playfully, on the arm.

"I'm not!" Maria denied and Alex just nodded, not once believing her.

TBC

There you go; James Parker is now in Roswell.