Remember Not To Panic
Part One
"Are you kidding me?" Maria stares in awe at the kitchen, turning to the living room. "Oh-oh geez!" She drops the bags of groceries she is carrying onto the counter and goes into the living room. Michael turns off the TV as she walks over to the piano. He watches her quietly as she runs her fingers over the ivory keys, hearing the music without playing a note.
Isabel rolls her eyes as she watches Maria. She heads down into the garage. "Need help?" She holds the door open for Kyle who is juggling three bags.
"We have enough food for a small country." He smiles. "How's the house?"
"Gorgeous." She takes the grocery bags Max hands her.
"I'll grab the rest and lock up here. You guys head up, I'll be right there." Max goes back to the car. Kyle and Izzie exchange a look as they head inside.
"What happened to him?" Izzie follows Kyle back up into the kitchen.
"I think him and Maria got into it about what went down in Twin Falls." Kyle places his bags on the counter and takes the others from Izzie. "It was tense, but you know, we got three kinds of peanut butter out of it, so there is an upside." He cracks a grin. "So, are you going to give me the grand tour or what? I got my own room right? I think a little 'me' time has been earned." He laughs as Izzie pushes him playfully. "What? I'm a guy with little prospects of feminine assistance in the matter. Least I'm being honest and optimistic about it."
"Pathetic." She laughs leads the way upstairs. "We'll start on the roof. The view is to die for."
Maria looks over to Michael almost startled that he's there, a hint of a smile touches her lips, and her face flushes red. "Hey." Michael stares at her, he grins seeing the flush creep up from her neck.
"Play me something." He clears his throat gently. "Please."
Maria sits in front of the piano. She plays with the keys for few seconds; Michael walks over and sits next to her, his eyes on her lips as she begins to sing:
Tears in my eyes love
You know how I feel.
Together in this insanity
Please don't leave me standing alone.
Liz sits in a darkened room crying. She wipes her tears away with the back of her hand. Get a grip Liz. Nothing has changed. Max must've known what he was doing. Fresh tears crowd her eyes forcing themselves forward. Kyle's laughter startles her out of the consuming ache. She rushes into the adjoining bathroom and turns the shower on; she grabs a towel and covers her face, muffling her cries.
Downstairs, Max enters the kitchen, "Hey maybe we shouldn't—" He looks around, nobody but Michael and Maria making music. Max smiles as he heads upstairs. We all need the break, as long as we stay on our toes, we'll be fine. Maria begins to giggle as Michael trails kisses along the side of her neck.
Part Two
Lucky Lou's Gas and Market has been around since 1963. It says so on the sign. Rath could care less about the history of this rinky-dink pit stop. His body hurt, his head pounded, and still Lonnie made him drive. The bitch thinks she can treat me like I'm one of her slaves. I'll have to teach her not to underestimate me. I would have had everything under control. The damn Parker girl has powers, who saw that coming? He looks at his face in the rearview mirror. Though still bruised he has managed to heal himself enough to open his eye fully. She could have killed me. She would have killed me if Max hadn't—
I could have handled it. Why does everyone think I can't take care of myself?! He slams his hands on the steering wheel and glares at Lonnie through the store's glass window.
Inside the store, Lonnie leans over the counter, an innocent glint in her eyes. "So you know you saw them," she smiles at the young man with the name tag BRENT, "you just aren't sure when?" Brent nods as he stares at Lonnie draped over his counter.
"I heard them talking about, uh, needing to keep driving. It seemed important and then the girl…uh her." He points to Liz in the picture Lonnie has in her hands.
"You mean my sister?" Lonnie blinks coyly at him, Brent nods.
"Yeah, she came in and got into a fight with this kid," Brent points to Max. "I don't know about what though, they, uh, went outside." He lips his lips nervously. Lonnie moves around the counter.
"Are you sure you can't remember any other details?" Lonnie sidles up next to Brent. "Does my being this close make you nervous?" She leans closer and whispers in his ear "You're practically shaking? Are you scared?"
"Yes-NO! I just…customers aren't supposed to be behind the counter. And you-you are, so..." His eyes cross when Lonnie nibbles on his ear.
"I'm just so grateful for the information you've given me. I'm so worried for my sister." She kisses his cheek. Brent relaxes, starting to feel like the hero.
"Well I wish there was more that I could remember." He turns his face slightly hoping for a kiss.
Lonnie pulls away slightly, teasing him. "We'll your little human brain can only be expected to do so much." As she pulls him into a kiss her fingertips dip slightly into his brain; small waves of energy transfer between Brent and Lonnie. Energy and light begin to surround Brent, his eyes fly open and he tries to pull away but can't.
Everything goes white.
Part Three
"I didn't expect to be hearin' from ya so soon Charlie. I'm not complain' or anything just saying." A wide smile spread across the face of Sheriff Jim Valenti. "I'm assuming this is in regards to my son and his friends." He crosses his arms as he leans back on his truck.
"They were involved in an incident that left some of my agents dead Jim. This isn't a social call." Charlie Brenton lifts his hat wiping the sweat from his brow. Jim sets a serious expression on his face; he sets it in stone never betraying the emotions he is suddenly filled with...
"Did they all escape? I mean are they—" Jim stammers briefly before Agent Brenton begins to speak again.
"As far as we can tell they all made it out okay. In fact what happened that night have a lot to do with why I'm here." Agent Brenton has never been the kind of man to play cloak and dagger, he has always put what he wanted to say out there, lay out the facts and give the person he was speaking with the chance to do the right thing. He would tell you this is his best quality; it made him a fair man. And if the person he was talking with made the wrong choice, well a fair man won't lose sleep over having to shoot a lying dirty bastard. "I want you to set up a meeting with the parents. I have a one time only proposition, and it's got a shelf life of 12 hours."
PART FOUR:
Michael mans the barbecue as Maria hands out virgin margaritas to everyone. Kyle waves her off and opens a beer. "I still have my fake I.D." He raises his Corona to Max. "The gift that keeps on giving, thank you very much."
Izzie messes with the radio, Liz comes over with a stack of CD's. "I found them in the game room, they have like everything." Liz hands Iz the stack and walks over to Max, taking a drink from Maria on the way. "Hey." She looks out at the beautiful sun set, a sliver over fiery orange just over the horizon. "I could stay here from ever." Smiling she looks at Max, though she expects to see him in agreement, she is sadly not surprises to see concern and doubt etched onto his face.
"Liz, we can't." Max pulls her into his arms. Briefly the tears crowd her eyes, but she blinks them away. She looks up at her husband.
"I know. It won't ever be safe enough. I get that, but I can think it Max. I can want it."
"It makes it harder to keep moving if you let yourself dwell on it Liz." Max kisses her forehead. "I want it to Liz. Normal isn't a foreign concept to me, a distant memory maybe," Liz looks up and smiles, "we'll find a way, someday to settle down. We just have to keep ahead of everyone coming after us." Max leans down his palm on Liz's cheek. "I love you madly Liz Parker-Evans." He kisses her gently.
Izzie watches the exchange and swallows the lump in her throat. Kyle comes up behind her. "Hey Ms. DJ. You suck. Color Me Badd? Eh. I'm confiscating your cool card." Iz turns to him.
"Hey! It's not like we have such a wide variety."
"We have the internet right? I've read it's possible to download music, burn them on a CD and then not suck as the DJ. It could all be a lie though." He laughs and heads inside. "I'm going to save this night from the Music Now 1992 catalog." Iz looks at Michael and Maria bickering playfully over the food, and follows Kyle inside.
"I know how to cook. I was a chef you know." He playfully slaps Maria's hands from the tongs.
"You were a short order cook and you never cooked an order right. We were always bringing back screwed up orders." Maria reaches for the tongs again; Michael slaps her hand away again.
"No playing near the fire children." Liz leaning on Max watches as Michael and Maria playfully fight with each other. "Mmm, maybe you should go and take over the grill. I don't want burnt steak on my first home cooked meal in a year." Max pulls her over, he picks up the tongs.
Part Five
Amy Deluca was the last to arrive; she stumbled into the back room of the Crash Down. "What happened? Did someone hear from them? Are they okay?" Nancy Parker walks over to her.
"We've haven't heard anything. Jim called us this afternoon, said he needed us all together. I didn't mean to give you the impression that we've spoken to them."
"So still nothing from them." She rubs her forehead. "God, I feared the worst. I mean they say 'no news is good news' but that's just stupid. No news means I get to think the worst and the worst is very possible because I have no other news to offset this panic." Her face is red as the panic begins to rise. "I just, I'm sorry." Nancy smiles sympathetically, and ushers her to a seat next to Diane.
"We're the 'Out of Our Minds' club." Diane smiles warmly, but the fear in her eyes betraying her calm demeanor.
"Ha! 'OOOM'," Amy snorts, "like I could reach a level of calm by moaning right now." The ladies begin to laugh, Jeff smiles and shakes his head.
Everyday when he woke up he thought of Liz. He thought about the pure terror he felt when they brought her home from the hospital after she was born, he thought about the pure terror he felt on her first day of school, he was worried she was growing up too fast, he was worried someone would hurt her feelings and he wouldn't be there to make it all better. Ever since she started hang around Max, that sense of terror has increased gradually, it reached it's peak a little over a year ago, when Liz and everyone has ran away, and all he had in the way of an explanation was a journal she had kept. With being able to explain it, he believed every word she had written. It had taken Amy a little longer to come around, but he never doubted the reality his daughter has lived since the day Max had saved her life. Liz was out there running for her life, and he could talk to her, hold her, or try to make it okay.
"Jim's late." Phillip checked his watch again. "He said he would be here at 10:15 right?"
"I'll call him." Jesse reached for his cell phone as was about to dial with Agent Brenton walks into the back room.
"Can I help you?" Jeff stands though his knees are weak. Jim slips past Agent Brenton and Jeff relaxes.
"Who's he?" Amy stands fire in her eyes. "How many times and how many ways do we have to tell you we don't know anything? Huh?"
"Wait. Amy let me explain okay?" Jim takes off his hat. "I contacted Agent Brenton six months ago, he's a friend okay? His father and I worked together for a long time, Charlie is a good kid, I obviously trust him if I was willing to bring you all in on this."
"In on what exactly?" Jesse speaks up, he crosses his arms defiantly. "If he works for the government then he is after Isabel, Max, all of them. How can we trust anything he has to say?" The defiance turns to defense as he shifts his balance waiting for a response.
"I came here to make you an offer. We've recently come into to evidence." He pulls flash drive from his pocket. "We have proof of their capabilities; a video of an exchange between your children and some of my agents. There is clearly a third party involvement which we can possibly discuss further, however right now I am only cleared to make you an offer." He hands Jim the flash drive, Jim opens the laptop he was instructed to bring. "I'm putting my cards on the table, I've read the files on your children and they are all good kids, but the secrets they carry will catch up to them. Watch the video, I will be back." He nods to Jim as he leaves the room.