Title: Revelations (part 13)
Author: Angela Rae
Category: Max/Liz, Michael/Maria, Isabel/Alex, Kyle/Tess (M) (AR)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these fabulous characters, more's the pity. They are the exclusive property of 20th Century Fox Television, Regency Television, Jason Katims, Melinda Metz and Laura J. Burns. To quote some of my favorite fan fiction authors, I'm just borrowing – I'll return them as I found them. Cross my heart!
A/N: Rated M for safety reasons… this fic is set at the end of "Destiny", ep 1:22 (with some S2/S3 canon thrown into the AR).
Thank you for the awesome Reviews! I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to reply individually this time, but you definitely know how to express the love. It's amazing and inspirational.
I borrowed some events and a little dialogue from the actual S2/S3 transcripts for a couple of the scenes below, with minor adjustments. One scene in particular was too good to pass up and, let's face it, in this case it doesn't get better than cannon. ;)
This chapter is un-beta'd, so please PM me with any mistakes and I'll fix 'em up. I hope you enjoy this one!
The morning sun filtered through the drawn curtains. Kyle yawned and absently scratched his chest before walking into his living room. There was plenty of time for a cup of the good stuff before he headed out for school. He swiped at his bleary eyes as he passed the couch, intent on the coffee maker in the kitchen.
Movement out of the corner of his eye stopped him dead in the doorway. Slowly, he swung around. And his jaw dropped.
Tess Harding was bunked down on his sofa, blinking the sleep out of her eyes as she gave him a lazy smile. "Morning."
Her voice was husky and shot straight to his groin as alarm bells started ringing in his head.
"Yes. Morning. What the hell are you doing here?" Kyle asked.
"I live here." Tess was all innocence as she stood, letting the comforter fall away to reveal her wearing nothing more than a loose fitting t-shirt that barely fell to mid-thigh. She sauntered forward and reached out, quick as a snake, to snap the elastic band of his boxers. "Calvin Klein. I approve," she said saucily.
Not taking his eyes off her for a second, he turned the rest of his head toward the back of the house, and tried to keep the panic from becoming obvious, as he yelled, "Dad!"
(***)
Tess was still laughing to herself when she came around the hallway corner. Students milled about, stressing over their last few finals and making last minute plans for summer break, but Tess wasn't really paying attention to any of it as she made her way to her locker. She was having too good a time remembering the look on Kyle's face when she had deliberately misled him into thinking she was moving into his house permanently. He'd just looked so… panicked.
She smiled to herself as she pulled out her Chemistry textbook. When Kyle had confronted his father, she hadn't been able to help overhearing his loud objections to a new houseguest or Sherriff Valenti's calm assurances that she was only staying for a few days until her dad got back into town.
She'd only felt a little guilty for the stunt she'd pulled that morning, but she'd made breakfast for the three of them, as the guys argued, anyway – just some bacon, eggs and waffles to make it up to Kyle and to thank the Sherriff for his hospitality. But when the two guys had finally come into the kitchen, they'd looked shell-shocked at the home-cooked meal heaped on a few plates she'd put out for them. You could have knocked them over with a finger when I brought out the fresh squeezed orange juice.
Tess stood there, wondering exactly how long it had been since the Valenti men had last had an actual meal together, and wondering why she even cared, when Liz came up next to her.
"Are you ready for this?" the petite brunette asked with a shy smile. "I think the section on thermodynamics will probably be the hardest but Mr. Seligman usually grades his Chem finals on a curve, so that leaves a little breathing room."
Tess smiled back hesitantly and nodded as Max came up behind Liz and put an arm around her waist with a grin. "And how would you know that?"
"I've got my sources, mister." Liz laughed with a fake punch to his abs before she shrugged and admitted, "I was in his extra-curricular course last year for additional credit and he let it slip."
Maria and Alex joined their little group, laughing when they heard her admission.
"Only you, chica, would sign up for that kind of additional torture willingly." Maria shook her head at her best friend, her expression a perfect blend of affectionate exasperation.
"Hey, it really was fun," Liz defended herself with mock indignation.
Max hugged her more tightly to him as he hid a smile in her hair.
Alex just sighed before saying, "We'd better get going or we'll be late."
Tess watched as the tight group of friends began to walk off down the hall when Liz looked over her shoulder and asked, "You coming?"
Tess let out a little start of surprise, startled into a quick nod of her head. "Um, yeah. Just a second."
She turned away to close her locker door and moved quickly to catch up with the group. Her blue eyes met Liz's brown in a moment of understanding. They weren't friends yet by any means, but the door had been opened last night… and Tess knew it was up to her to decide if she wanted to walk through.
In the meantime, she was content to follow her classmates to their Chemistry final and listen to Alex try to tell a "why'd the chicken" joke with a science theme. Human boys could be so ridiculous sometimes.
(***)
"Hey, Valenti!"
Kyle was startled out of his thoughts, the ones that kept irritatingly circling back to a certain pretty blonde alien invader, as he heard someone shout his name.
"Michael," he said in surprise, then he glanced around, "Where's Max?"
"What do I look like, my brother's keeper?" Michael asked with an irritated shrug.
"I sort of thought it was the other way around." Kyle smiled and kept walking to his next class, Michael moving to match pace next to him. "Wait… you guys are brothers?"
"Whatever." Michael rolled his eyes, completely ignoring the question in favor of his own agenda. "Look we need to discuss your side-effects. Tess says that our powers affect everyone differently and since you're having dreams about the pod chamber after Maxwell saved your life, we need to know just how far it goes for you. Since we all know it goes pretty damn far for Liz."
"Hang on man," Kyle put on the mental brakes. He could only handle so much of the alien mumbo-jumbo at one time and Michael was coming out of left field here. "What do you mean 'having dreams'? Max told you about that?"
Michael just looked at him with one raised eyebrow and an expression that clearly stated 'duh'. "Max tells me everything."
Then, as if Kyle hadn't said anything at all, Michael continued, "Like I said, we still don't know everything about how our powers work. And since you're seeing the place we were born we think it would be in our best interest to keep an eye on you."
"What Michael means to say," Isabel said as she slipped her arm around Michael's waist and offered Kyle a dazzling smile, "is that Michael is throwing a get-together at his apartment tonight in celebration of the fact that this is our last day of enslavement, before three months of freedom and fun in the sun, and we'd be honored if you'd join us. Don't worry, Liz, Alex, and Maria will be there too and there will be plenty of food, drinks and entertainment for all."
"So, are you coming?" Isabel asked with a winning smile.
"No one ever says 'no' to you, do they?" Kyle asked in bemusement.
"To be honest, it's rare." Isabel's grin turned a little naughty as she wound a strand of her hair around her finger.
"Okay, I'll be there, I guess."
"Great!" Isabel let go of Michael and nudged him down the hall. "Meet us at our table during lunch and we'll discuss details."
Michael grunted as she slammed her elbow into his stomach when he looked like he wanted to add something to the conversation, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.
Kyle grimaced in sympathy, but didn't feel too bad because Michael sort of had it coming. And he kept his mouth closed too as the two pod people walked off down the hall. The prom queen princess and the juvenile delinquent. It just looked weird.
Kyle walked into class thinking, as much as he might wish it otherwise, he could probably kiss 'normal' goodbye.
(***)
The quad was overflowing with students looking to find a spot to bask in the summer sun and count down the last few hours left until freedom.
Liz was just glad they had managed to stake out the usual table and were all seated together.
She saw Michael reaching over to snag one of Maria's fries out of the corner of her eye when Kyle walked over to join them. Alex and Liz moved apart to make room for him to sit.
"So, this is the super-secret alien clubhouse, huh?" Kyle asked as the others all stared at him for a moment.
"Yeah," Tess said, "We've got a special knock and everything. Remind me to show you sometime."
"Cute." Kyle smirked at her before looking to Liz. "I hear you guys had something you wanted to say to me?"
"Thanks for coming, Kyle." Liz smiled, her expression still that of the genuine and friendly girl Kyle had known since their first day of kindergarten. She had relaxed into Max's side and shifted a little to make room as the alien boy leaned forward.
"We just wanted to talk to you about the dreams and thought it would be best if we did it together, as a group," Max said softly.
"Okay, then," Kyle nodded, "let's talk."
"Max mentioned a few details, but could you tell us what exactly are the dreams about, in your own words?" Isabel asked.
"Sure," Kyle said. It was easy to allow the images to flood his mind when they had been his only dream for days now. "I'm in this room, Max said it's your pod chamber. Anyway, it's dark, but there's light coming from the far wall and I see a pattern that's kind of glowing. It's four bright, white dots, they make a square, and the one on the bottom left is sort of pulsing. Then the light gets brighter, only it's not white anymore, it's blue, and there are these symbols that start flashing by. They definitely have a meaning, but I have no idea what it is. Then, at some point in the sequence, I wake up."
Michael leaned forward and asked excitedly, "Could you draw the symbols?"
"Since they're all I see when I close my eyes these days – yeah, I think I could manage that." Kyle replied.
Alex drew out a notebook and pen from his backpack and put them on the table.
"Thanks, man," Kyle said. Alex offered a nod and a lop-sided grin as he moved to take Isabel's hand back into his own.
It didn't take Kyle long to sketch out fifteen distinct symbols across the faint blue lines of the narrow-rule page. Then he pushed the notebook into the center of the table and took a bite of his burger. He watched the others stare at the symbols as he chewed.
Michael's eyebrows drew together. "They're like the ones from my healing."
"Yeah, they are, but they're different too." Max reached out and tapped the symbol at the top of the page. "Four dots in a square. This could be us. You, me, Isabel and Tess."
"Weren't the pods arranged in that pattern too?" Isabel asked, leaning more fully into Alex as she thought about it. "Maybe there are clues in the chamber that we haven't found yet; maybe that's why Kyle is having the dreams."
"I think that's the reason Nesedo wants to meet us there," Tess said suddenly. "He could have chosen to meet us at the house, it would have been safer, but he didn't."
"We've been over that place a million times and never found anything before," Michael said, "but if Tess says Nesedo has a reason for meeting us there, then I say we should get there first and have another look around."
Kyle perked up at that. Looking up from his burger, he said, "I'm coming with you."
Michael and Tess looked like they were about to object, when Liz nodded. "Of course you are."
"We'll go tomorrow morning." Max looked around the table. "Michael and the girls have Saturday off and we can drive out first thing."
"In the meantime," Isabel said with a smile, "We're still meeting at Michael's tonight for a little end of the school year bash. Festivities begin at eight and all of you had better be there."
(***)
The bell rang, signaling the end of the last period of the year. Summer was officially here.
Liz smiled at Maria and Alex high-fiving in the halls as they met up outside the band room. Both the girls burst out laughing when Alex did an impromptu celebratory dance, if you could call it dancing. Liz didn't really think you could, more like a 'flailing of the limbs in a moment of insanity'.
They were still laughing when Liz stumbled under a sudden wave of dizziness.
She quickly braced herself against the wall as another wave of awareness rolled through her, threatening to take her under. Max.
She distantly heard Maria ask if she was okay, but it barely registered as her focus shifted outside of herself.
He was in the boy's locker room; she could see the faint image of showers and benches superimposed on the back of her eyelids. She vaguely remembered gym was his last period this semester.
Max was talking to Kyle. His hair was wet; she could feel the short, damp strands on the back of Max's neck. Liz faintly felt a blush heat up her face when she got a glimpse of Greg Coleman's naked backside out of Max's periphery vision, but Max didn't notice. He was amused by something Kyle was saying. Liz felt the laughter bubble up inside him, her lips curved in an unintended echo of his feelings, as she fought to hold onto her sense of self. She knew he wasn't aware that she was with him like this yet.
Every urge whispered to her to just let go, to lose herself in the merge with Max, to truly never be alone again; but a distant voice, one that was almost drowned out by the wonder and intensity of this connection, spoke to the core instinct for survival. That voice reminded her that their differences, their independent natures, were part of what they had fallen in love with in the first place. Their separate strengths that covered each other's weaknesses – would be lost. Cold fear trickled down her spine, the shock tearing her away from Max's mind.
Suddenly, she was back in the hallway, slumped against the wall, an arm curled into her stomach as if trying to hold some part of herself together that she didn't trust not to fly apart without warning, and staring into the concerned eyes of her two best friends.
Then Max was there. Her fear had touched him and she felt his concern like a question wrapping her mind in a swath of warm sensation, but it was too much, too soon. She concentrated on sending back a wave of calm, holding up her hand to halt Maria and Alex's worried questions, before narrowing their bond to the smallest filament of sensation she could manage. She took a deep breath of relief when the connection receded to the merest of trickle of awareness in the place in her mind where she always felt Max now.
"Liz, what just happened?" Alex's tone was concerned and he reached out to brace her other side.
Maria's hand touched her forehead. "Are you okay? What was that?"
"You guys, I'm fine," Liz said, summoning up a shaky smile before straightening up, "It's just something that's been happening lately, but it's never been this strong."
"Do you need to go to the hospital?" Alex asked, ready to take her right there if she gave the word.
"No!" Liz exclaimed, shaking her head, and then lowered her voice to say, "It's not like that. It's a Czechoslovakian thing."
"Does Max know?" Maria asked, the worry in her voice growing by the second.
"Not really," Liz said, "and you guys have to promise not to tell him." Before they could object, as they were clearly about to, she continued, "I want to tell him about this myself. This is between the two of us and not anyone else."
Her soft brown eyes begged them to understand and agree to her request.
Slowly they nodded their agreement.
"Okay, chica, if that's what you want." Maria's worried frown didn't diminish.
"Tonight," Alex said, naming his terms, "You'll tell him tonight or I will."
"I'll talk to him about it at Michael's," Liz promised.
"Okay, then," Maria said, blowing out a breath and pasting on a smile. "Well, I guess there's only one thing to do now." She linked her arms through each of her friends. "Time to get ready for a party."
(***)
Lamest party ever. The thought passed through Kyle's mind for the third time in as many minutes. The girls were hot, the music was okay, and there was definitely free booze and grub, he acknowledged, but it sort of killed the mood when everyone sat around in various groups to either argue over alien meeting strategy or watch in brooding silence.
Liz and Max were obviously having some sort of disagreement. She'd pulled him into the bathroom as soon as she and Maria had arrived and they'd come out ten minutes later, him looking shell-shocked and her looking upset.
Definitely trouble in paradise, Kyle thought, but got distracted when Tess stood and walked over to the table with the food, breaking off what seemed to be a one-sided conversation with Guerin, to grab some nachos and salsa. He tried to shift his gaze away, and failed, when the short skirt of her blue dress rose to reveal several more inches of thigh as she reached for a bottle of honey and promptly squeezed a large dollop on top of her salsa. Gross.
Tess must have noticed him watching, because she turned and grinned devilishly before taking a big bite. Kyle knew his senses should be mortally offended, but he couldn't hold onto his outrage when she was looking at him like that. Her blue eyes were mischievous as she cocked her head to the side and made "oh yeah!" faces while she chewed.
He barely managed to contain a startled laugh and, instead, fake gagged in disgust.
It was her turn to hold back the laughter, as his expression went from grossed out to ridiculous when she licked her fingers nice and slow. Tess loved to tease and Kyle made it way too easy.
She was just about to give into the temptation to see how far she could go without doing anything too crazy, when Michael's voice cut across the room, cuing her into the fact that they had an audience.
"Kyle, either get a room or come over here and help us figure out what these symbols mean." Michael's expression straddled the line between irritated amusement and exasperation.
"He's already said he doesn't know what they mean," Alex said quietly, "And I don't think that's the most pressing issue tonight anyway." His expression was concerned as he glanced at Maria before settling on Liz.
"Don't worry about it, Alex," Max said, "We're dealing with it."
"Dealing with what?" Michael asked, his radar going up at the obvious tension between Max and Alex.
"Nothing," Max replied, his tone holding a note of finality that wouldn't be challenged.
Michael opened his mouth to argue, but Maria promptly sat down in his lap and his arms instinctively rose to wrap around her waist as she said, "Let's not argue, tonight's supposed to be about fun, remember?"
No one answered as the tension in the room started to climb.
Then Michael broke the silence. "Look, Maxwell, I thought we'd decided, no more secrets. We're handling things together now. Well, this feels like you're not telling us something and it's starting to piss me off... So, what's wrong with you and Liz?"
Well, that proved he wasn't as oblivious as Kyle first thought.
Max's face could have been set in stone, for all the emotion he'd wiped away. "We're handling it, Michael. It's between the two of us and doesn't have anything to do with you."
Liz and Tess shared an unexpected look as Max stared Michael down. Isabel just looked anxious as Alex rose to join her where she was standing by the kitchen. And Kyle had no idea what was going on.
The silence was starting to become unbearable and Kyle knew someone was about to break.
"Okay, that's it!" Maria's shout startled them all. She rose from Michael's lap in one swift motion and grabbed the backpack she'd brought with her, dropping it on the table. "I knew this was going to happen and, luckily, I came prepared. We all need a break and this is not it. This party officially blows, people." With that she up-ended the contents of the bag, dumping glow sticks, glitter brushes and glow necklaces everywhere.
Then she smiled brightly at the shocked expressions of her friends before declaring, "We're going to find Enigma."
TBC…
A/N: So, some writer's block on how to proceed held up this update, but I'm on track again, so whoot, whoot! (grins)
To those of you who noticed the continuity hiccup above, my apologies. It just played out better this way getting out the scene (and I did go back to the previous effected chapter to correct the problem, so I'm doing my best to remain mindful!)
Also… Enigma! God, I loved that party concept in S3 but I was so disappointed by the flashback of what was over the hill. So, I'm hijacking the idea and shifting gears. For the purpose of this story, Enigma isn't a NYE bash, it's an annual graduation event. So, if you're up for it, let's get this party started!
And Thank You to all for the Story Alerts and Favorites that continue to mount up. It's so encouraging! I've noticed some of the Reviews are starting to influence the details in certain scenes, so that's interesting to me too.
As always R&R is appreciated. So, press the little blue button… :)