I don't own Roswell or any of its franchise.
A/N Not to sound like a broken record, but this chapter nearly made me tear my hair out. Well, I no longer care and hope you will all enjoy it! Also, be warned that there's a little bit of foulmouthyness and blood in Max's Pov. And I've thrown in a little "gift" in the end for you guys and girls reading. Enjoy!
This chapter is currently unbetaed, but I promise to have it edited as soon as possible.
Liz's POV
"This has got to be the biggest waste of time ever," Maria whispered in her ear and Liz had to fight hard to suppress a giggle.
Apparently she hadn't succeeded, because she noticed that both Kyle and Max had turned halfway in their seats to look at her.
The look Kyle sent her was a mixture of his usual longing and bitterness. And she quickly looked away, knowing that he still carried a torch for her. But how can I even think about being with him anymore, now that I'm…
Unable to finish her thought, Liz's gaze trailed over at Max who'd turned back to listen to Topolsky's lecture about their future possibilities. He really is quite handsome, she thought, fighting off a blush, that dark hair and his eyes and not to mention his-
"Liz," Maria's voice reached her and she jumped a bit. "You're spacing out. That's usually my job. Especially in this scholastic environment."
Smiling ruefully, Liz paid attention for the rest of the class, nodding every now and again whenever Maria muttered something none too politely about the lecture and those career sessions they'd been suffering through the entire day.
When the class finally ended, Maria dragged Liz past Max, not giving her a chance to do more than say hello. Liz had a pretty good suspicion that the quickness was because of Michael's presence next to Max. And Maria was doing almost everything in her power these days to avoid the other teenager.
Just as they exited the classroom, Kyle's voice reached them. "Hey. Uhm, could I maybe talk to Liz for a little bit?"
Maria rolled her eyes, but released her death grip on Liz and went in search of Alex. Liz smiled politely at the guy, whom she'd practically been dating before the shooting. "Hey Kyle."
Kyle smiled, looking oddly shy all of the sudden and Liz recognized the signs with an internal sigh. He's gonna ask me out again. How do I reject him without hurting his feelings? He's such a nice guy.
Suddenly there was a flash of something that burned hotly in her stomach and Liz frowned, placing her hand on the spot. Anger? No, that's not it. What's going on?
Liz looked over Kyle's shoulder and locked eyes with Max. He looked, if not mad, then at least not in a positive mood. He broke the stare a few seconds later and turned around to talk to a smirking Michael. What is going on?
"…so, what do you say?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
Kyle's eyes darkened at her obvious lack of interest in his words and Liz smiled, "I'm sorry, I was just spacing out for a second there. What did you say?"
"I asked if you wanted to go to a movie with me tomorrow night? There's this great one playing…or we could just rent some movies instead. I'd really like you to go out with me. It can be casual and everything, I won't expect anything, I just want to hang out with you, Liz. You know, like we used to."
Biting her lip, and trying her best to ignore the increasing burn in her stomach, Liz couldn't make herself decline. After all, she reasoned internally, he's been my friend a lot longer than he ever was my boyfriend. I miss our friendship.
"Okay, Kyle. I'm free tomorrow. How does seven o'clock sound?"
A few minutes later, they'd settled on the time and place and Liz made her way to her next class. It was an odd class; the subject was boring as always, but throughout the entire period, Liz could sense Max's emotions churning in her belly. It ranged between annoyance, amusement and something else that she just couldn't put her finger on. She didn't share the class with Max, so she couldn't watch his face to determine what was going on.
Instead she kept looking over at Michael, who, quite uncharacteristically, was once again present in class. He was sitting a few seats in front of her, allowing Liz to watch him closely. I wonder if he knows what going on? She thought, at the same time writing down the notes on the blackboard without really thinking about it. It's no secret that he's Max's best friend. I should try and ask him more about the whole alien business, but, Liz glanced over at the large teenager again, he's never made any secret about not liking me. I bet he won't even talk to me, especially if I mention the whole feeling things from Max…
"Miss Parker?"
With a jolt, Liz returned to the present, realizing with flaming cheeks that the entire class was staring at her. Some were even giggling at her predicament. "Yes, sir?" she asked, praying that the earth would open up and swallow her.
"I'd appreciate it, if you'd pay attention to my lecture." The stuffy, middle-aged, tweed wearing man said with a superior look in his beady eyes.
Chastised, Liz nodded and tried to put her thoughts behind her.
When the class ended, Liz was one of the first ones out the door. She ran to her locker and changed her books for her next class and was in the middle of toying with the zipper of her book bag when a shadow fell over her and she looked up.
Immediately, she felt a greeting smile break out on her lips at the sight of Max. "Max, hi," Liz said as her hands kept trying to close the uncooperative zipper on her bag. A second glance at the boy she didn't completely admit having a crush on, told Liz that he was being more serious than usual.
"What's wrong?" Concern laced her words and she put the still opened book bag back in her locker to focus on him instead.
To Liz's surprise, Max's fidgeted, shifting his weight from one leg to another without saying anything at first. Liz was about to repeat the question when Max finally spoke. "You shouldn't go out with Kyle Valenti. It's a bad idea."
"Uhm, excuse me," Liz began with a frown marring her features, "but that's not really your business, is it Max."
Max swallowed, before answering, "It's just not a good idea for you to be with him, especially since you don't feel the same thing for him as he does for you." Max's lips moved up into a smirk that made Liz suddenly want to punch him, "I didn't think you'd be one of those girls playing with a guy's heart."
Liz took a deep breath, trying to ignore both her growing anger and the tiny spark of amusement and annoyance that she was pretty sure was coming from the boy in front of her. It wasn't working and Liz grabbed her book bag, and slammed the locker with a loud bang that echoed through the halls.
People stared a bit, but quickly averted their attention when Liz sent the onlookers a glare of death, which was completely uncharacteristic for the mild mannered brunette. Finally having acted out a bit of her anger, Liz met Max's eyes.
"I'm not using Kyle. He's my friend and like it or not, Max Evans, it's got nothing to do with you. I see who I wanna see, and that's that. Now, excuse me, I'm late for class."
Liz pushed her way past Max, making sure to bump roughly into him just to be annoying and walked to the classroom. She was practically seething with anger. How dare he say those things to me? And that smug look on his face? Urgh!
Liz wasn't typically a hot tempered girl, her anger seldom lasted long, but one those rare occasions where something irked her, it was dangerous to be around her. And in that moment, her anger showed no signs of diminishing.
It was all made worse when she rounded a corner and accidentally bumped into someone. "Hey watch it, Dinergirl!" someone hissed and Liz looked up and froze.
The girl she'd barreled into was the one who'd so maliciously tripped Maria in the Crashdown the other day, Michelle something. Liz knew that Isabel had taken her own anger out on the ditzy teenage girl, but Liz had never gotten a chance to talk to her herself. And boy am I in the mood to "talk" to her, Liz thought as she straightened herself back up and crossed her arms.
"Original name calling there, Michelle. I'm proud to see that several years in school have made you so ingenious."
Michelle's eyes nearly popped out of her eyes, but she didn't get a chance to respond, before Liz continued, "I've been meaning to talk to you ever since you hurt my best friend. If you ever even look at her again, I'm gonna make sure that you get food poisoning from every take out place in town for the rest of your miserable life. "
Michelle snorted, and glanced back at her waiting friends, who were watching the confrontation with eager eyes. When she looked back at Liz, the brunette noticed a spark of fear in her eyes. Apparently she isn't too keen on public mocking when she's the victim…Well, too bad!
"Having fun?" Isabel's voice suddenly sounded from behind Liz and the latter noticed genuine horror in Michelle's entire stance at the sight of the tall blonde. If she wasn't so mad at the moment, Liz might even have felt a bit sorry for her, but fortunately she wasn't and she turned halfway around to speak to Isabel.
"I was just reminding Michelle to watch where she puts her feet in the future. Wouldn't want people to get hurt again, now would we?"
Isabel looked almost shocked over Liz's abnormal display of bloodthirstiness, but she quickly covered it up and grinned evilly down at the now visibly shaking Michelle. "Oh, I'm happy to see you looking out for other people, Liz. I'll help you whenever you need it."
Isabel's eyes narrowed and she asked, with a none too concerned smirk on her lips, "Did you sleep okay last night, Michelle? You look a bit worn out… Are you having bad dreams? You should take better care of yourself you know. Sleep is very important."
Isabel took a gentle hold of Liz's arm and all but dragged her into the class they shared together, before Liz could say anything else. They settled down next to each other and Liz, whose bad mood wasn't growing any better, crossed her arms and looked down at the table in front of her.
"What's up, Liz? Not that I didn't enjoy watching Michelle almost pee herself, but this angry vibe you're giving out, isn't like you."
Liz clenched her jaw for a second, grinding her teeth as she fought off her initial desire to say something less than positive to her new friend. After a few seconds, Liz opened her mouth, fully prepared to spew something boring and unimaginative about having had a rough night, but instead she spilled everything without the slightest pause.
As she finished giving the rundown of her talk with Max, Liz wondered why she'd told Isabel about it. It's not like me to whine about something like this? Especially to a girl I've barely ever talked to…Besides, she's his sister; she's bound to try and defend him at all costs no matter how big of an idiot he seems to be.
Isabel surprised her though, a little. For a brief moment, Isabel looked like she couldn't quite decide whether to laugh or growl. She muttered something that Liz swore sounded like, "he just couldn't keep himself in check for one little date," before speaking in a normal tone of voice. "Look Liz, I'll be the first to admit that my brother is a little on the possessive side. But-"
Liz interrupted with a sigh, rubbing her tense neck soothingly, "Look, Isabel. I'm not gonna stop being angry at him; I know I'm being dramatic and I bet when I'm a bit more calm, I won't…Well, I just need to calm down first. So, let's just focus on getting through the day and I'll talk to you later at our shift at the Crash, okay?"
Despite looking as though she desperately wanted to say something, Isabel held her tongue and turned toward the front of the room to concentrate on the just arrived teacher. Liz was grateful and leaned forward, resting her head in her hand while silently wondering just why Max was infuriating her so.
It can't all be me, she thought, gnawing on her bottom lip, I guess the feelings I get from him are feeding my own anger and multiplying it…Well, too bad, I'm too mad to calm down just yet…Max isn't the boss of me and I'll act like any normal teenage girl and be mad at him until he caves in.
In the back of Liz's mind, she briefly considered how Max had managed to rile her up with so little effort and if her feelings just might expand beyond a common crush, considering the pang of hurt she realized belatedly that she'd felt when Max hadn't come after her to apologize immediately.
Max's POV
Max wasn't in the best of moods when he followed Michael into the Crashdown that evening to pick up Isabel after her shift. They'd arrived a bit early to get something to eat, since Dianne was at a friend's house bonding over their traveling husbands and hadn't cooked for them.
Max had been feeling less than positive ever since he'd witnessed Kyle ask out his wife. Well, future wife, but that's beside the point, Max reluctantly amended. Add to that, Liz's sudden burst of anger that was completely blown out of proportion in his opinion; he hadn't been having the best of days.
The familiar smell of fast food and heat reached Max's sensitive nose and he took a deep breath, trying to relax. It was made even more difficult when his eyes met Liz's and she almost immediately frowned and turned away to take a finished order from a yawning Jose.
Why is she so mad at me? Max wondered, not for the first time that day. The entire day had gone by with her anger and disappointment rolling through him like a wildfire. He hadn't felt her so angry at him since…well, there was only the time after Alex's death in the original timeline that came close and he couldn't see how his possessive behavior that time was anything like him warning her to not break Kyle's heart. He was only looking out for the guy, after all.
"Max?"
Max blinked out of his thoughts, realizing he'd been standing motionless ever since Liz had turned away to ignore him, and met his sister's gaze. For one second, his mood lightened a fraction. The sight of his very beautiful sister in the Crashdown uniform never failed to make him smile. "Hey Iz," he greeted and slid into the booth across from Michael, who was looking closely at the menu.
"She's still pretty mad at you," Isabel warned when Max's eyes trailed after Liz, who was now taking orders from some of Kyle's friends, including that wanna be tough guy, Johnny that loved to harass Alex, over at another booth.
"Yeah, I know," Max muttered and finally looked away when Johnny leered smugly at him. "I just think she's overreacting a bit."
Michael snorted, placing the menu on the table, "Dude, don't take this the wrong way, but you're an idiot. Take it from someone who's more used to hot tempered women than you are; just save yourself the hassle and apologize."
Growing exasperated by his fellow hybrids ganging up on him, Max leaned back and glared mildly at them. "I'm not gonna apologize for something that isn't worth doing it for. It's a real problem, Kyle isn't meant for her and she shouldn't play with his heart."
"And you shouldn't interfere when you're not needed," Liz's ice cold voice stated as she suddenly appeared next to Isabel with a tray of Cherry cola's. Setting them down on the table with a slam, she turned to Max and continued, "Also, I'm not "playing" anything. Like I said at school; Kyle is my friend and that's that!"
Jealousy flared through Max's insides and he took deep breaths to control it. I think my teenage self's emotions are showing up; I know I'm being irrational, but I'm not able to stop it.
"Liz," Isabel interjected between them, trying to stop the tension from mounting, but it was futile.
A moment later, Liz spoke again and her words caused the trio to freeze in shock, and in Max's case, unbelievable hurt and sadness.
"And by the way Max, I need you to somehow put a stop to that whole feeling your emotions thing. It's distracting me and I don't like it. It's frustrating enough to deal with my own feelings without having this weird Czechoslovakian thing going on between us."
What? But you said you loved our connection! That is made us complete! Max roared on the inside, suddenly unable to move a muscle. He tried reminding himself that it was the Liz from his other life that had stated her love for their bond and not this one. But it was hard; because her words caused an agony his torture at Khivar's hands hadn't managed and it very nearly ruined him.
"Liz, chill and go get us some food," Michael roughly demanded, looking closely at Max, who still couldn't make himself act normal.
Liz's brown eyes looked a bit guilty for a second, but then she turned around and left. Max swallowed hard, trying to fulfill his love's request. It took a tremendous amount of effort, but eventually, Max felt the thrumming web between them subside, turning into just a dull imitation of its original state. It felt horrible, like a piece of him was missing, but Max fought the urge to reopen the bond, not willing to suffer through any more of those cold looks from Liz. It's only temporary, he tried consoling himself.
The smell of food brought Max back from his mind and he stared blindly down at a plate of fries. The aroma of Tabasco sauce, some of which Michael seemed to have sprinkled on them, reached him and suddenly Max felt nauseous.
Before he realized it, he was moving; muttering to Michael that he had to leave. He reached the door and practically ran outside, gasping for some fresh air. Max walked a bit away from the diner and leaned up against a wall in a nearby alley, fighting the need to throw up. He had no idea how long he stood there, repressing dry heaves.
"Whoa, what have we here?"
Max looked up and when he recognized the speaker, he sighed tiredly. This day can't get much worse, he thought in a rare bout of self-pity. I can't believe I didn't remember this…
It seemed that Max had been so preoccupied with his love life, or resounding lack thereof, that he'd failed to recognize the group of Kyle's friends in the Crashdown as the group that once upon a time ganged up on him in an alley similar to the one he was standing in, to beat him for flirting with "Kyle's girl."
"Look, guys," Johnny mocked, "he's all petrified of us. Hey, Evans, I think you need to remember that you shouldn't be talking to other people's girls."
"Liz isn't Kyle's girl," the words left Max's mouth in a snarl and he straightened up. He could feel the control on his anger slipping and he knew he had to leave before he really snapped and did something these children weren't ready for.
"Oh yes she is," Johnny said and cracked his knuckles in a would be threatening way. It might have worked if his victim hadn't fought a war. "Now, Evans. You're gonna stay away from Parker, so Kyle can get a chance to do her before he moves on to the next one."
Don't kill him; don't kill him, Max frantically thought to himself, forcing his rage down as he tried to walk past the five jocks without resorting to violence. Unfortunately, Johnny took it a step too far for the alien king, who was not only pushed hard in the back, but as he stumbled forward in an attempt to regain his balance, Johnny spoke again, "Maybe after he's done with her, I'm gonna try out for a chance between those milky thighs. I bet she's all tight and-"
In that moment, Max boiled over. It wasn't his alien side that snapped; there was no visible aura of power around him. It was his human side that couldn't take it anymore and he turned around in one swift movement and punched Johnny in the face hard enough for the athlete to go down with a moan of pain, blood sprouting from his broken nose.
The other jocks instantly crowded Max, intent on taking him down with their numbers, but Max was now a sea of boiling rage, so those few opponents was next to nothing but punching bags to him. He spun around and landed a hard kick in the stomach on one guy, while he simultaneously snapped the bone in another one's arm and as Max crouched down to the asphalt he swepped his leg out and made sure the remaining two jocks fell hard to the ground.
As he was making his way to the nearest jock, Johnny's arm went across Max's neck and he punched him repeatedly in the kidneys with the other. It was obvious to the hybrid that Johnny had done these kinds of attacks before and was too confident in his own strength.
The pain the punches brought Max, didn't even faze him. He simply reached behind him and threw Johnny over his shoulders, twisting out of his grip as the other boy landed on the ground with a thump. Max only got to kick the downed Johnny in the ribs once, before the two remaining guys were on him. They tried to hit him hard enough for Max to fall down, but they only succeeded in pissing him off even further.
A few seconds later, Max had turned around enough to grab their heads and slam them into the nearest brick wall with a loud bang. They slid to the ground, bleeding and very much unconscious. A quick glance behind him, told the enraged timetraveller that the one with the broken arm had fled from the scene. The other, was still kneeling on the ground, trying his damndest to catch a breath after the devastatingly hard assault on his gut.
Casually, Max strolled over to the gasping teenager and without further ado, he simply drew back his hand and hit him with enough force to knock him out. In the background, Max heard Johnny groan and curse him out as he watched him attack his friends with a different kind of strength he'd never shown before.
Max turned back, his vision still almost red with anger, and started kicking Johnny in the ribs relentlessly. "Don't. Talk. To. Me. About. Liz. Ever. Again." He demanded with each brutal thrust of his leg. Johnny had curled into a ball to try and protect himself, but Max was having none of that, so he bent down and started raining down punches in Johnny's face. His knuckles were red with blood; his own and that of his opponents.
In his haze, Max didn't even notice the muscular arms around him, desperately trying to pull him off the now clearly unconscious Johnny. He simply continued hitting with a feral grin on his lips.
Isabel's POV
Isabel was in a mood to yell. She watched her brother's face crumble momentarily before he slammed his familiar blank mask into place. A few moments later, Michael and she watched him leave as though he was being chased, eager to get away from them to seek out some much needed privacy.
In that moment, Isabel felt protective of her brother and she turned to find Liz. Michael seemed to have the same desire, but Isabel gestured to the cooling food on the table. "Eat and let me deal with this." She didn't even wait for Michael to agree verbally before she walked over to Liz, who was standing at the counter, filling up the salt shakers with a peculiar look on her face.
"We need to talk," Isabel stated gripping Liz's arm and unceremoniously leading her into the empty backroom.
"Isabel, I'm working." Liz tried to get out of Isabel's firm grip, but it was in vain and Isabel merely waited until she realized that too.
It didn't take long and as soon as Liz stopped struggling, Isabel said, "Why would you even say that to Max? It's gonna cause him pain and I hate to see my brother in any kind of pain; I don't care how close you and I are getting, I will kick your ass if you don't stop acting like a spoiled brat."
Liz sighed and looked up at Isabel. The look in her eyes made Isabel pause in her scolding. She looks sad. Why? She got what she wanted didn't she?
"Isabel, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…It just slipped out, I've been so angry all day, it's been eating away at me and I just knew he was…that it was his fault somehow and then I said it and I could see how hurt he was."
Isabel watched the guilt and genuine remorse in Liz's dark eyes as she continued softly, "but I don't regret asking him to close the bond because, no wait," Liz held up her free hand when Isabel was about to interrupt, "I don't regret it because, although it has its perks, I barely know Max and having our emotions out in the open like that scares me a little…But I am sorry that I hurt him, that's the last thing I ever wanted to do. From now on we'll get to know each other like normal people. No matter how un-normal he really is. Give me that at least."
Isabel let go of Liz's arm with a heavy sigh. Liz rubbed her arm, making Isabel realize that she might have held on a bit too tight in her quest for justice. "Sorry about that," she pointed at Liz's arm.
Liz smiled a small smile, "It's okay. Listen, Isabel; I'm gonna go out with Kyle tomorrow and hopefully have a little fun and after that I'll talk to Max so we can put this whole drama thing behind us. Now, go change, your shift ended five minutes ago and knowing my dad, he's not too fond of paying for overtime if it can be avoided. See ya tomorrow at school."
Isabel nodded; feeling exhausted all of the sudden. Her day had been long. She'd spent most of her night dreamwalking into Michelle's dreams, giving her a healthy dose of fear, and then she'd spent an agonizingly long session with Kathleen Topolsky, trying to remember how she'd acted the first time around, while attempting to see how much the F.B.I. female already knew. And now this whole mess on top of it all.
A part of Isabel could relate to Liz and knew that the brunette didn't have a malicious bone in her body, but the rest of her was conflicted. Her old memories of the Liz who'd led Serena and her group into Khivar's den to save her husband was fighting against the ones of the teenaged Liz that had scarcely scratched the surface of their alien world.
It almost makes me miss the days of battle. Things were much simpler then; kill or be killed, Isabel mused as she changed out of her uniform. The memory of Alex's grin during their short lunch date flashed into her mind, along with the sight of a smirking Kyle in the school's cafeteria earlier that day, and Isabel smiled to herself. No, not really. I'd live through this messy teenage life a thousand times over just to see those two alive and well. To see them all alive…
She'd just finished changing back into her regular clothes so she could wait for Max to come back and drive her home, when she felt it.
A swirl of anger, betrayal, and hurt all mixed together with a big dose of pure fury. And it was coming from her brother. There was no doubt in Isabel's mind. She quickly walked back into the diner and searched out Michael, who was sitting with a hamburger halfway up to his mouth, frozen as he too was assaulted by the roaring emotions coming from their former leader.
"Michael!" Isabel brought him back to life and he quickly set down his food and got to his feet. Isabel noticed Liz standing by the kitchen with a confused frown on her face, at the sight of their sudden departure. Apparently Max had fulfilled her request completely because Isabel had no doubt that had Liz felt what was happening, she'd have been right behind them. No matter how close Max was to her on the surface, she would never let him suffer if she could help it.
Isabel followed Michael out the door and they'd only taken a few steps before Michael started running with a loud curse. When Isabel reached the alley where Michael had disappeared from her sight a few seconds later, she had to fight hard to not react with a curse of her own.
Some of the sporty guys from school were lying on the ground, all of them unconscious and obviously wounded.
"Damn it Max, snap out of it!" Michael's yell, brought Isabel's attention back to her brother and this time she couldn't contain her shock. Michael had wrapped his arms around Max's waist. Max didn't seem to notice; instead he was looking very concentrated as he repeatedly hit that guy, Johnny's face. There was blood all over his face and Isabel had no doubt that he was missing a tooth or two.
"Isabel, he's completely lost it," Michael grunted as he kept struggling to contain Max's deadly movements.
Isabel swallowed hard, but like Michael and Max, she too had seen a war and blood and gore was not new things to her. She quickly shook off her initial surprise and fear, walking over to her brother and yanked Johnny out of his iron grip.
Max literally growled at that and Michael almost lost his grip when Max's resistance intensified. "Max, calm the fuck down!"
Isabel glanced down at the bleeding boy in her arms and placed him gently on the ground, hoping he was still alive, before turning to Max. She hated the bolt of fear she got just by looking at him. No one should be afraid of their own family, but whenever Max was in this kind of mood, he was deadly. And he hadn't even tapped into his powers from the looks of it.
Taking a deep breath, Isabel kneeled in front of the squirming Max and firmly placed her hands on his cheeks. "Max," she began, looking him dead in the eyes, "relax. You're scaring me. Please."
Max didn't react, he just kept trying to escape Michael's hold on him and Isabel did the only thing she could think off. She slapped him across the face; hard.
"Max, we didn't travel through time for you to lose it already," Isabel stated without letting his glare get to her. On the outside at least, inwardly she was fighting off tremors. "What would Liz think if she saw you like this? What if she'd been the one to come out here?"
It took a few more moments, but finally Max's eyes turned back to themselves, losing that crazed, homicidal look. He blinked, slowly returning to normal. A second later, his eyes darted to the unconscious bodies around them and he groaned in shame.
"I'm sorry, I…" Max started and slumped against Michael's hold for a moment, before gently releasing himself. "I'll make it alright again, I promise." He got to his feet and walked over to Johnny, who was still completely unresponsive. Max crouched down and took his pulse. A look of profound relief crossed his features, so Isabel surmised that the other boy was still alive.
Then her eyes widened when Max's hands started to give a familiar glow, "Max, no!" she screamed and ran over to him and roughly pushed him away from Johnny's body.
"Iz, what the hell?" Michael objected as he reached down and helped Max to his feet.
"You can't heal them, Max," Isabel explained, wringing her manicured hands, full of nervous energy. "We don't know these guys. We don't know if they can be trusted and if you heal them, they'll have questions and," Isabel added with a pleading look at Max's stubborn face, "if they can't be trusted to keep all this to themselves, we'll be standing with five guys with abilities in the near future, who can make all our hard work fall apart."
Understanding dawned on Max's face and he glanced guiltily down at the five boys he'd just beaten with ease. "You're right," he whispered and looked back at her. "But no matter what, I'm in a lot of trouble now – especially when they wake up."
Michael gave a half-hearted laugh and shrugged when they looked at him in mild disbelief over his untimely behavior in this serious moment. "Look, guys, I doubt these idiots will go spewing to people that they got their asses handed to them by one person; let alone the somewhat nerdy loner, Max Evans. I bet when they show up at school tomorrow, they'll lie through their teeth about how they fought of a gang of drug dealers or something like that. They're way too proud to admit what really happened, so don't worry."
Isabel smiled and saw how Max copied her with an eye roll. "That actually makes sense."
Michael shrugged again, crossing his arms in self-defense. "Hey, I do have my moments. Now let's stop hanging around here before someone walks by and calls Valenti; we don't need to add him into the mix right now."
Isabel nodded in agreement and was about to help Max and Michael move the high school boys a bit further into the shadows, when she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye.
"Well, I was gonna lend y'all a hand with this whole mess, but judging from what I've just heard and seen, I'm thinking I'm a bit over my head here."
The trio of timetravellers immediately tensed up. Michael got into battle stance and Isabel emulated him, but then she looked over at Max and hesitated.
Max looked awful; the blood had fled his earlier flushed face, leaving him paler than a ghost. His eyes were wide and his mouth was even a little bit open in obvious shock. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he knows her.
Isabel cast a closer look at the speaker. It was a woman; she looked to be in her late sixties, with white-grey hair and what were more importantly; extremely intelligent brown eyes that were watching their every move silently. I've got a bad feeling about this, Isabel decided as she heard Michael mutter to Max in the background.
"Max, what's wrong? Do you know her? What do you want us to do?"
Max didn't immediately launch into an explanation and Isabel felt her heart in her throat, seemingly trying to escape her body. Finally, after what seemed like forever, but probably wasn't more than a few seconds, Max opened his mouth and croaked out quietly, "I…That's Claudia and we're in trouble."
"Trouble how?" Isabel asked, grabbing her throat to try and calm herself down a bit.
Michael stepped closer to Max at the same time, his eyes narrowed and his mouth set in a firm line. "Maxwell, what are you talking about?"
Max licked his lips once before finally speaking again; this time he managed to nod a bit in the direction of the immobile woman in front of them. "We're in trouble because that's Liz's grandma, Claudia…"
"Oh crap," Isabel closed her eyes as if in prayer. Why can't things ever go smoothly for us? Why?
TBC…
A little Extra Scene Because You All Rock;) (And also, I couldn't fit it into the chapter without ruining the flow)…
Topolsky's POV
"So, why don't you start by telling me what your dream job would be?"
She eyed the youth in front of her and suppressed a shudder. Michael Guerin's eyes would probably not kill her, but it sure looked like he was trying to do just that.
"I don't dream," he answered curtly after a long, tense pause.
Kathleen sighed inwardly, glancing down at her notes. Michael Guerin is one of the suspects; I have to get under his skin. I didn't get anywhere with the Evans' kids, so this is my last shot. The thought about the Evans siblings almost made her skin crawl.
If Michael's gaze looked threatening, the look that Isabel had given her was downright murderous. Not to mention, Kathleen couldn't quite avoid a quick quiver at the memory, Max Evans. He was polite and timid enough when I talked to him, but his eyes…Unlike the other two, there was just something there that scared me on a whole other level.
"Are we done yet?" Michael's drawl, brought Kathleen back to the present and she straightened up; shaking off the memories of her earlier "consultations."
"Not quite yet, Mr. Guerin. I need to ask you; where do you actually see yourself in ten years?" Come on, she urged internally, give me something…
Michael's careless attitude didn't waver as he blinked slowly before answering, "On an extended road trip, if all goes well."
Kathleen frowned. "Uhm, that sounds nice; but I was thinking more along the lines of, "what do you actually think you'll be working as" in ten years?"
Michael didn't say anything for a long moment and Kathleen was itching to just scream at him to behave like the alien she very much suspected he was, and not like some surly teenager. "You asked me where I saw myself in ten years and that's my answer. Take it or leave it."
Kathleen was about to spew some of her quickly studied psychology, when Michael got to his feet, "Now, I'm not gonna look at some picture and identify with it, like Max and Iz did; I'm not in the mood for any more psycho babble."
Letting some of her real authority shine through, Kathleen pointed at the chair he'd just vacated. "Sit down, Michael. This session is only over when I say it's over."
Michael didn't move at first, but then he sighed loud enough to show off his boredom and sat back down. "Okay, let's have some more fun together," he mocked and leaned back with a big yawn,
If he hadn't been best friends with the main suspect, I would put him in the pile with the other deadbeats, Kathleen fumed inwardly. On the outside, however, the blond gave a small, friendly smile and held up a picture of kids playing on the playground. "Which one of these do you most identify with?"
"The one who's not there, 'cause he's out buying beer for his guardian." Michael deadpanned.
"Michael," Kathleen tried to act cool and collected, but the boy was making it exceedingly hard on her, "I'm sorry if I'm pushing your limits. Please tell me, why do you find talking to me so difficult?"
Michael's eyes morphed into something that once again reminded the F.B.I agent about Max Evans. In her head Michael just jumped up to suspect number two. She quickly told herself that Michael Guerin had also been one of the children found wandering the desert, butt naked and without any real language.
All thoughts about her suspects and their past flew out of Kathleen's mind when Michael finally answered her earlier question. "I don't like people, who're busy trying to come up with dirt about me to expose me."
Only her training prevented Kathleen from freezing noticeably. How does he know? Did he figure out my true identity?
There was a long, heavy silence in the small office, but for the life of her, Kathleen couldn't seem to move. She was half planning her escape from the special unit; knowing all too well that Pierce wouldn't allow defeat.
Then she released a breath, she hadn't realized she was holding when Michael rubbed his neck and said bluntly, "I mean a guidance counselor is nothing more than a wannabe shrink and I don't like shrinks. They wanna probe me and figure out what makes me tick and I'm not having any of that.
There was a glint of something in Michael's eyes, and if Kathleen hadn't been too distracted by her own relief, she might have recognized it as dark amusement over something she couldn't possibly understand.
"I appreciate your honesty," she eventually stated and made a show of writing something down in her notes, trying to stay in character. "Well, that's all for now, but I think you should know that you can always come to me, Michael. I'm a fairly good observer and listener, if you need one."
Michael sent her a smirk and left without another word. Kathleen sighed and glanced down at her papers. She'd highlighted the five people she'd been following ever since her enrollment as the school's guidance counselor, but there was nothing really striking about her observations.
And there was a small part of her, that had a feeling that Michael had been talking about something completely different when he mentioned being exposed, but she put it in the back of her mind and smiled a friendly smile when her next student walked in. "Take a seat, Miss Parker and let's begin."
A/N Well, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! And my little Omake/Extra Scene. I don't usually do this, but I want to reward those of you who actually have been fairly loyal reviewers and give you an option. If you want, I'll reply back with a tiny preview of the next chapter;) your choice! That said, I hope to hear your thoughts and views on this chapter - considering it's been a real pain to finish and the longer it got, the more insecure I became...who knew;)
Until Next Time
Ditte Mai