Chapter Thirty-eight

Sorry this is kinda of late, its because I kinda of got sidetracked and forgot were I was going with the story but after adding and taking off some events, all is well. I also realized that the story seemed to be centered around Eric, Tess, Max and Liz this past few chapters so I had to get this focused. Thanks for being patient and please review, anything to make the story better:)

Isabel was sitting in Maria's hospital room, grateful that Amy had given clearance for Isabel and the others to visit the "patient". If only she, Amy, knew and understood that her daughter's condition was because of her so called friends. How could Isabel not see this coming? Thats the question that often floated through Isabel's mind. Where there signs that she had missed? Looking back, Isabel felt like she had been rather selfish. It was the day after Tess had decided to make another surprise appearance. Isabel had decided to visit Maria that day and as she sat beside Maria's bedside, she knew that as much as she hated and wasn't fond of surprises before, she had just about had it. She was at the end of her rope. Maybe it would be best if she just entered herself into a mental institution, she would save herself the time and space. Looking at Maria, who had been at the same spot from the moment Isabel had walked in, she knew she should be grateful herself. Maria was sitting like a frozen statue, hadn't moved, hadn't blinked, Isabel couldn't even hear her breathing at all anymore. Maria had stopped the world from spinning and events from taking place in her head, Isabel wished she could do that at will. Everything that had happen with Alex and Tess had been like a sword through her heart, then why couldn't she just stop the world on its tracks as well.
The thing was, Isabel had already come to a conclusion about why everything was so hard on her. She hadn't even had the peace or any closure. Isabel sighed loudly before finally telling Maria why she was there and describing the events that took place the day before. She didn't even know why she was talking at all, with Maria not moving or anything, she felt as if she was speaking to a corpse. Isabel sighed again knowing that she would have to leave soon before Michael showed up. She was still avoiding him and didn't really want to stop. Isabel had already decided something else as well, Maria was the one of her best friends. It was an mindblowing epiphany really. A realization that came a little too late for Isabel's liking. Infact, she was sure that if she were getting married Maria would be her maid of honor. The thought had been a surprise to Isabel more than anything. Isabel leaned forward and wondered what was in her friends mind and if it was better that she was in that world and away from everything nethertheless Isabel was afraid for some unknown reason and wanted Maria to talk to her or something. Even if her words were rather incoherent or a little comical.

"Look Maria, I know that you can hear me at least thats what the doctors tell me" Isabel stated with a faustrated mindset then placed her hands on Maria's hand, "But I need you to give me some kinda of hope here, move you hand or blink...or something...please"

Silence streached after Isabel's request and nothing happened and know movement in sight. Michael stood at the doorway willing Maria to move or blink or something to give him hope. He knew that he was being selffish and that he should be grateful that she was at least alife unlike Isabel who had lost Alex. But he wanted to talk to Maria, how ironic that he wanted to talk to Maria now. Before, he would have done or said anything to shut her up and now he found himself wishing. Those last days have been hectic and he wanted to just concentrate on Maria and thats it. And since Tess was back...didn't even matter. She wasn't going to be any help anyway, nothing Michael could do to make everything better. Isabel was another problem, the girl was angry at him for something and Michael didn't know what he had done.

"Isabel"

Isabel froze for a moment knowing full well who was behind her. How long had she been at the hospital, she wasn't paying attention to the time or anything. She had figured that she would have left before Michael had shown up or rather she had hoped. Anyhow she wasn't in the mood to speak to him at all. But what else could she do but turn around to great him, forcing a smile upon her face.

"Hey, Michael" Isabel said before turning her attention back to Maria.

Michael stared at Isabel's back for a moment, yes, she was definitely angry at him for some reason or another. Moving toward Maria, he studied his girlfriend and felt a pang of increasing pain inside his chest. He took a deep breath moving a chair upfront so he was sitting face to face with Maria and he could see that she was staring right through him into nothingness.

"I wish I could do something for her" Michael stated outloud, how he wished he could.

Isabel raised her face to Michael for a moment softening, thinking of his pain since his love was sinking further from him and there was nothing he could do about that.

"Well" Isabel turned from Michael, "At least she is alife and therefore the possible that she is going to be fine is high considering she isn't dead"

Michael was silent for a moment then looked at Isabel, "What did I do?"
"What?" Isabel questioned with a confused expression, she was sure that he hadn't meant to say that outloud.

"You are angry at me for something" Michael stated as a fact and shrugged his shoulders, "So therefore, I must have done something to piss you off"

"You haven't done anything Michael" Isabel said silently after a moment of silence.

Michael chuckled inwardly, did she think he was that stupid, "Really, that explains why you have been avoiding me this past week, at school, at your house, we haven't talked...I feel like a virus or something"

Isabel closed her eyes and calmed herself before saying something she would regret later on, "Its been a long week and things have been spiring out of control thats all, we haven't had time to converse"

"Well there is the problem" Michael shook his head turning back to Maria slightly trying to keep his emotions underraps, afterall he had to be strong for a whole of people. Max, Isabel, Liz, Kyle, Maria and yes even Tess, all those people were under his care and he had to be strong for all of them. And having Maria in this stance was already overwhelming and he was beginning to think that Isabel could fall as well.

"Isabel you have to talk to me" Michael said trying not to sound like he was demanding anything from her.

Isabel was suddenly wishing she had left as soon as Michael had showed up seeing that she was already getting a little fastrauted, "About what?"

"About why you are so angry" Michael said with as sureness that was surprising to Isabel, he never listened when Maria would tell him something so he was going to listen to Isabel even if it killed him "And I know you are angry, if not at me at something, probably Tess, probably Max... I do know that you are angry at someone and you can't keep it to yourself no matter how determined you are to keep it to yourself...because you are starting to worry me. You haven't talked to Max and you have been avoiding us like the plague and you are going to tell me why"

"You really want to know why?" Isabel asked standing up and strode to a the window, she looked out at the road and marveled at how peaceful it looked when everything seemed so wrong, "Its really simple really but you were wrong when you said I was angry with Tess at this point, its the people that are on her corner that I am angry at. The ones that are protecting her from just punishment, punishment that she deserves considering that, you know, she is a murder. But not to Max and little latin boy... Eric or whatever and you"

"Me" Michael said with shocked stance.

"Yes you" Isabel stated then shook her head, "Ever since Max has started to remember and ever since Zan made his appearance you have agreed to every decision he has made especially concerning Tess"

"I haven't agreed to everything that Max had done since he has become Zan" Michael denounced his early actions.

"Really" Isabel said with raised eyebrows, "Then how come Tess stayed with you"

"Because...because Zan is the king and his word is law" Michael said silently as if that was enough, he knew that he sounded the way Rath had sounded before.

"Because Zan is the King" Isabel stopped as the word rolled over and over in her head, she had head those word a thousand times before. As Valendra, thats why she had never has a choice of mate because Zan had chosen Rath for her., "Is that the only reason"

"No" Michael said surprising both himself and Isabel with the answer, "Because Tess in one of us"

"And that changes the fact that she killed Alex?" Isabel asked in disbelief, how come noone seemed to understand were she was coming from.

Michael didn't know how to answer that question, the truth was the more he remembered his past life the more he was finding it hard to image Tess killing Alex. Maybe because of Rath's memories of Ava or because he was starting to think too much about Alex's death. The Roswellians never really had any proof did they, Michael still wondered how Amy and Kyle were able to remember anything since Tess did the who abrakadrabra thing and made them forget the events. That made no sense whatsoever, what about Sean, did Maria's cousin remember what happen when Brody went all crazy on everyone because of his confusion. If that was the case, wouldn't Amy and Sean be a threat or something. Michael was saved from answering when a nurse walked into the room. She stopped for a moment and looked at them oddly, she was probably surprised that anyone was in the room.

"Good afternoon" The nurse said politely before moving to Maria to check her vitals and stuff.

There was silence which both Michael and Isabel were grateful of. Michael was suddenly wishing he hadn't started the conversion at all but a part of him was glad that she had gotten some of her thoughts out there in air. He was afraid that if she keep all her anger inside her she would one day either blow at someone or become like Maria.

"Is there any indication that she id getting better?" Isabel asked the nurse breaking the silence turning to look at Maria.
"I'm not sure I can" The nurse answered evenly without glancing at Isabel, "Its against hospital policy, you understand..."

"Please, she is our friend" Isabel said in a trembling voice, after her little discussion with Michael and wanting Maria to be okay, she was afraid that she would cry.

The nurse finally looked up and stared at Isabel for a moment, "Mental or nervious breakdowns are very complicated and are often because of unresolved grief and oftern the mind is in turmoil really. It takes a long time for a patient to get into the period that Maria is in right now and since this was a quick unseen event we really don't know what we are dealing with here. Most mental breakdowns, especially the very serious kind last up six months and since Maria has not said a word, Its a complicated issue. Often therapy is the best method for breakdowns and unless someone can get inside her head and talk her out of her stance, we are not sure how she is going to progress...I'm sorry"

Isabel and Michael exchanged glances and waited patiently until the nurse left the room. Isabel's heart was beating fast according to the news she had just heard. How could she have missed that important fact, how could she not have thought it before.

"Oh my god" Michael mummured staring at Isabel for a moment then finally smiled, he knew how to save Maria...

Isabel

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Liz was standing next to the table tapping her pencil on her small notebook as she watched a couple make out once more. Really all she asked was if they knew what they wanted to eat, of course the girl wanted to check out the menu. She didn't know how the two lovebirds had gone from checking the menu to making out but she was trying very hard to keep herself from throwing up. Finally she gave up, rolling her eyes Liz turned and stalked back to the counter. Her life was constantly getting more and more horrid with no good signs in sight. The last thing she wanted to think about was love, especially with her love life down the drain. As soon as she got back to the counter and started to wipe furiously while thinking about her life. She wasn't having a good life and the day had proved that as a fact. Everything was so screwed already and she hadn't thought it could get any worse but nope she was wrong. So the entire universe was against her, that was the only thing that made sense to her right now. She had done something very very bad in her past life because God was finding ways of paying her back ten fold. Her best friend was dead, another was haveing a mental breakdown and was admitted at Mercy General Hospital, Max had dumped her, she was alll alone and miserable. But that was not enough, no the universe had finally made things even worse.

"Wow, Liz are you okay?"

Liz looked up and sighed, "Hi Kyle"

Kyle forced a smile on his lips as he sat down at the high chairs while Liz went back to furiously wiping the counter once more. She didn't look happy at all, she looked pissed, Kyle figured it had something to do about Tess so he didn't want to ask. The last thing that Kyle wanted to talk or think about was Tess, afterall his dad already had spoken to him about the Tess situation thousand of times before. But Liz was still his friend...

"Liz" Kyle waited until she looked up at him and asked again, "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay?" Liz asked then chuckled turning away trying to calm down then turned back to Kyle, "Why, don't I look okay? Because I am okay, okay and I would appiciate it if people would stop asking me if I am okay because I am okay...so what if I am having those bad day, those days pass and I will still be okay"

She was pratically screaming as she finished her little speach because really she was okay, and people should really stop asking if she was okay.

"Okay, Liz" Kyle said finally silently afraid that she might start shouting again but then Kyle got curious and leaned forward, "Is this about our friends, did something happen?"

The look Liz threw at Kyle was so intense that Kyle felt like he had asked the wrong question.

"No, this isn't about our "friends" and I know what you are asking Kyle" Liz said throwing him a dirty look, "And no its not about Max, not everything in my life is about Max...can't I just have a bad day and not have the day be about Max..."

"Of course you can..." Kyle interupted trying to explain that he hadn't meant any harm with his line of questions.

"Of course I can" Liz agreed instantly her face softening then looked at Kyle as if she had finally noticed him, "You know Kyle, I haven't seen you the last couple of days not since Tess did the disappearance, where have you been?"

"I was with my dad" Kyle said quickly glad that she had calmed down and didn't seem to have any intention of yelling at him anymore, "We went camping if you can believe it...something about us needing to talk"

"Oh" Liz said feeling like a horrible friend, everything that had been happening so fast with Maria and Tess and everything. How come he hadn't noticed that Kyle had been gone...ah, who cares he was fine anyway.

"Hi Liz"

Both Liz and Kyle turned to the newcomer. Eric hardly noticed Kyle at all, his eyes were trained on Liz and he was smiling. Liz was caught of guard by Eric's arrival but then again he was a little early and she hadn't been paying attention to the time. Why should she anyway, she wasn't having a good day was she? After a minute with Eric looking at her intensely and smiling brightly at her, Liz was starting to feel the tingling feeling once again and couldn't help the smile that showed up on her face.

"Hey Eric" She greated him warmly then remembering that Kyle was still there went on to introduce the two guys, "Eric Vandercamp this is Kyle Valenti, Kyle...Eric"

Eric turned to look at Kyle Valenti, so this was the famous Kyle. Hadn't Tess claimed that he was the only person in Roswell beside Alex that she liked? That Kyle had been like a brother to her, Eric didn't quite understand that but thats what Tess had said. The Valentis had taken care of Tessa and for that Eric would forever be grateful.

Eric turned to Liz with raised eyebrows then turned back to Kyle, "So, Tessa told me that she stayed with you awhile"

"So" Kyle said in a rude manner turning to stare at him.

"So" Eric sat straighter and struggled to remain smiling, "I wanted to say thank you for taking care of her"

"Don't thank me" Kyle snapped then stood up towing over Eric with rage filled eyes, "A lot of good that did us...considering that she you know murdered a friend in our home and all"

With those words, Kyle left a very bewilded Eric staring after him. Eric sighed then turned to find Liz looking at him with all knowing eyes as if she was saying silently, 'what did you expect'. Well really, what had he expected, these people trully believed that Tess was a murder, somthing that Eric couldn't understand at all. How could Tess, his Tessa take innocent blood, Tess couldn't kill anyone. She just didn't have it in her...he knew however veiwing those thoughts out loud would not gain him sympathy. Liz may have helped him yesterday by not telling Max about Eric hiding Tess, but he knew she still hated Tess.

Eric shook his head and smiled at Liz, "How was your day today?"

That wasn't exactly what Liz had expected Eric to say after the cold reception he had recieved from Kyle but really Eric was a surprising guy, "You really want to know?"
Eric gave a small nod looking at her intently with a smile.

"My purse got stolen today" Liz said dropping the bumbshell, thats why the day had been so horrible as far as she was concerned.

Eric didn't seem fazed, infact his face expression didn't change whatsoever, "Where? How?"

"At the library" Liz said slowly because it was actually embarassing and stupid on her part to let someone still from her. "I sort of left my bag on the table while I went to search for a chemistry book...don't look at me like that okay, my credit cards were in there, my I.D. card was in there, my library card was in there, my cell phone was in there and worse my favorite lip stick was in there"

Favorite lipstick...

"Well thats quite a day" Eric said struggled not to laugh as he stared at Liz in disbelief then shook his head, "I don't want to call you Liz anymore"

Liz was taken back once more by Eric ability to change the subject. He had asked about her day then changed the subject as if the day didn't matter one bit. Part of her felt she should be angry at him but at that moment, she was puzzled by his statement.

"Have you ever called me Liz before?" Liz asked because in her mind she was finding it hard to remember Eric ever calling her Liz, it was always babe or sweety or hon or those kind of names.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I've called you Liz before" Eric answered as sure as the sky is blue, "I just don't call you that as often and I'm not going too"

"Why?" Liz asked wearing a confused expression, "I don't get it"

"Because everyone calls you Liz" Eric said looking at her as if it should be the obvious answer in the world, "I want to come up with a nickname for you"

"Liz is a nickname" Liz said patronizingly as she wiped the table once more, she didn't have to really but she didn't feel like working and she had to look busy just in case, "Its short for Elizabeth, duh"

"I know that" Eric said with a stingy smile then shook his head, "But everyone calls you that, my nickname for you is going to be my petname for you and noone else will have the right to use it but me"

"Petname?" Liz questioned wondering if she should slap him but figured that he would always say something to rile her up.

"Yeah" Eric said as if there was nothing wrong with his suggestion at all, "I've thought about all the nicknames that goes with the name Elizabeth...Eliza, Elie, Beth, Zabe and Libe..."

"Zabe, Libe" Liz sputtered out then started laughing, her bad day was starting to brighten up all the sudden, "I am not going to be called Zabe or Libe"

"Okay, out, gone" Eric smiled waving his hand wildly then gave toothy smile, "So on the table, Liza, Eli, Beth which one do you think will suffice..."

"How about Lizzie" Liz offered with a bright smile suddenly feeling okay the whole petname thing.

"Lizzie is an extension of Liz" Eric pointed out after a moment of silence, "I like it, as long as noone else uses the name but me and I mean noone"

Liz shook her head in disbelief then smiled despite herself. She couldn't help but find it rather cute that he wanted to find a petname for her that only he could use an only him. It made her feel special to know that and surprisingly the days events seemed to have disappeared from her mind. How was it that Eric was always able to do that? She should be angry that Eric was on Tess's side after everything that witch had done but the more she thought about it, the more she found him rather loyal. Liz looked up and found her heart beating a little fast as Max Evens walked into the crashdown. It wasn't intentional, she didn't want her heart to beat that way for Max considering that she knew where she stood now. He wasn't hers anymore, he didn't belong to her anymore. Eric felt as if he had lost Liz's attention and when she turned to find the reason for her statue, he found himself face to face with Max. Max was looking at Liz as well wearing a small smile before turning to Eric. At an instant his face darkened as he strode over.

"Eric" Max said coldly and weirdly in a calm voice without another glance at Liz, "Good to see you, mind telling me where you statched my wife"