Author's Note: A few lines in this part were borrowed from the Season Three Roswell episode Disturbing Behavior.

Part 26

The sunlight bounced off of the snow, so blindingly bright it hurt his eyes and made them water like crazy. Kyle shifted in an effort to get away from it but since he was vertically challenged there was no way to avoid it. Unless he wanted to slide across the seat and sit in Max' lap and somehow that would just be wrong for so many reasons. He shifted uncomfortably and realized that his right knee was wedged against the front seat so tightly that he couldn't move it. Michael had long legs so as soon as he had gotten in he had shoved the seat so far back he was practically in Kyle's lap.

Kyle rolled his eyes. He would've said something but he already knew what was waiting for them at the shop so there was no need to aggravate the volatile hybrid prior to him learning that the van was indeed toast. He'd rather have Michael at least somewhat relaxed before that happened. Maybe it would balance out his reaction when the mechanic handed out the diagnosis because that news wasn't going to be received well.

Michael shifted the sun visor a little but it was of no help to Kyle. He wasn't tall enough or in the right position to take advantage of the respite it offered. He glanced over at Max, taking in his erect posture as he stared unseeingly at the back of Edward's head. He wondered what he was thinking about. The van? Their current situation? Whatever was going on between him and Liz? He shook his head. The last one, he decided.

Outwardly Max gave no indication that something was troubling him, but he knew him well enough now to see the little indicators. Max carried himself differently than Michael did and he bottled things up. Granted, he could use a little less of Michael's overbearing personality when things weren't going right, but at least with him you knew where you stood. In some ways that made Max the harder one to read; he internalized, agonizing over things while trying to pretend that nothing was wrong and he had everything under control.

Appearances could be deceiving though. He tipped his head to the side, studying him and a smile broke out on his face as his imagination kicked in, providing him with an image of a palace. He could easily picture Max as royalty, sitting on a purple satin pillow with little gold tassels while his underlings plied him with hand-peeled grapes and fanned him with palm fronds. Wearing some sort of Aladdin getup, he thought, trying not to laugh. He snorted, nearly choking as his laughter escaped and he shook his head when all three of them turned to look at him.

"What is up with you, Valenti?" Michael bit out.

"Nothin', just a thought." Kyle shook his head and cleared his throat, trying to come up with something to get the attention off of him. "So did you really blast Woody Woodpecker in your underwear? How'd that go?"

Edward shifted and shrugged one shoulder. "It went." Yeah, it went, he thought. Went over about as well as a fart in Sunday school.

Max snorted softly. "My wife would have me on the couch for a long time for somethin' like that." Not that he'd ever do anything like that.

"You'd be lucky to see daylight again if you ever did somethin' like that," Michael muttered.

"Well, I wasn't on the couch technically," Edward said. "I was temporarily residing in the office."

"I can imagine." Kyle thumped the back of Michael's head. "Hey, whatcha think Maria would do to you if you ever did somethin' like that?"

"I think it's not even worth thinkin' about."

Kyle nodded. Yeah, she'd annihilate him for that. He reached between the seats to point up ahead. "Is that the shop?"

Edward flipped his turn signal on as they approached the dealership. "That'd be it. You'll find Dean in the shop." He grinned. "Just follow your ears." He pulled into the parking lot and put the brakes on. "If you guys need anything," he nodded at the phone Michael held, "speed dial two for me and three for the house."

Michael held it up as he nodded, sliding it into his pocket as he shoved his door open and stepped down. "We'll be waitin' for you."

"Shouldn't be long, just a quick run to the Walmart." He glanced over his shoulder when Kyle opened the back door and misjudged just how high up the truck sat. The younger man yelped as the ground he had expected to be right there didn't materialize and he took a nosedive into the snow.

Michael reached down to grab the back of Kyle's coat, pulling him back up just as Max dropped down out of the truck. He turned to look at Edward. "See ya later." As soon as the doors were shut the truck pulled away and the guys turned to walk over to the customer entrance. He jerked the door open and muffled music reached their ears as they walked along a short concrete-walled hall to the glass door that opened into the shop.

Their ears were assaulted by painfully loud music reverberating off of the walls and shaking the glass in the windows as they opened the door and stepped into the nearly empty shop. Max reached up to cover his ears, wondering how anyone could listen to anything so offensive to the auditory nerves. Kyle was thinking something along similar lines as lyrics that he couldn't even decipher were screamed out of the speakers at a decibel that was normally reserved for people who were nearly deaf.

Michael glanced around the shop, taking in a couple of cars with parts strewn around them in some sort of chaotic order and he stalked over to the stereo set up in one corner, jerking the power cord out of the outlet. The sudden silence was deafening and his head turned to the left when he heard something rolling along the concrete. A moment later a man stood up near the open hood of a… he squinted, his eyes still adjusting to the change in lighting. It was a Jetta, he realized. Some sort of bluish-green. Definitely a chick's color choice.

"You fella's must be here for the VW bus," the man said as he approached them, wiping his hands on a greasy rag that he shoved back in one of the back pockets of his jeans. He was wearing a Godsmack tee shirt, his left arm covered in a tattoo sleeve and his right eyebrow pierced.

Kyle stepped forward and held his hand out to the guy. "Kyle," he introduced himself before hooking his thumb over his shoulder to indicate his friends. "Michael and Max."

"Name's Dean." He shook their hands and then nodded to the back of the shop where their vehicle was waiting. "Who did the paint job on your bus? Man, I've gotta tell ya, that's an amazing job."

Kyle nodded. "Wish I could tell ya, but it'd already been done before we got our hands on it."

"Damn shame. Someone really knows what they're doin'. I've never seen a paint job quite like this one. C'mon, let's go take a look at your bus."

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Eddie stared up at Maria as she rolled out the cookie dough. He propped his elbows on the counter and rested his chin in his hands as he watched her. She had been telling him about her mother, who sounded a little bit strange in his opinion, but he wasn't about to tell her that! "So, your mom's… what'd you call her, a hippie?"

"Yes, I did," Maria said with a smile.

"What's a hippie anyway?"

"Someone who's a free spirit, makes their own rules, and loves nature." She nodded to the measuring cup next to him. "Would you hand that to me?"

Eddie hurried to snatch it up and hand it to her, his hand brushing against hers and making his heart stutter in his chest. What the heck was wrong with him? "So is your mom like one of those tree hugger people?"

Maria snorted softly. "Yeah, she kinda is," she admitted. "She'd have a fit over your dad shooting that poor little woodpecker."

The boy smiled at her. "It wasn't really funny at the time. Mom was mad at Dad for a long time," he said uncomfortably. He shrugged one shoulder and looked up at her. "That woodpecker was destroying the wood trim around their bedroom window… it's expensive stuff, ya know. I mean, Dad replaced it several times and even hung a suet feeder out in the yard but it kept comin' back."

"A what?"

"A suet feeder." He grinned when he saw the confusion on her face. "They're these little cake-like things made of fat and seeds."

"Sounds tasty," she said, making a face.

He laughed at her expression. "The birds like 'em, especially woodpeckers, but for whatever reason that one just wasn't interested. Anyway, Dad had just had enough." He lowered his voice as he glanced at Mom where she was busy making cookies and talking to Liz and Isabel. "It got him in major trouble with Mom though."

"I'll bet." Maria smiled, thinking of some of the impulsive things Michael had done. Nothing quite so drastic as what Edward had done to that poor little bird, but he definitely had his impulsive moments too.

Julia looked up when the phone rang and she wiped her hands on her apron. "That'll be your dad," she said as she crossed the kitchen to answer it.

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Edward walked through the automatic doors and grabbed a cart, nearly mowing down the greeter on his way through the theft sensors and into the store. He paused to apologize and then continued on his way, stopping when he realized the cart had a limp and the wheel would stick every couple of feet. He huffed in irritation and returned it to the cart area and pulled another one out, giving it an experimental push before making his way inside once more.

He slowed down as he neared the displays set up with all of the special foods that only came out around the holidays. He browsed for a few minutes before his thoughts began to wander and his mouth nearly started to water at the thought of filet mignon for two, crescent rolls… maybe apple dumplings or pie from the bakery… He glanced at his watch. Oh, yeah, the kids would be out in the next day or so. He had faith that Dean would fix whatever was wrong with their van and have them on their way. The guy was a top-notch mechanic; he could fix anything.

He felt better as he straightened up and reached into his shirt pocket to pull the list out, frowning he unfolded it and little colorful strips of paper floated out to dance on the air as they fluttered to the floor. "What the…" He crouched down to start collecting the escaped coupons, chasing a couple of them across the floor when the automatic doors opened behind him and the wind caught the paper, chasing them several feet away.

Once they were all collected once more he shoved them in the pocket of his coat and turned his attention back to the list. His frown only deepened when the page slipped and he realized that there were two pages. His mouth dropped open in shock as he separated the pages and his gaze slid over the… it couldn't even be called a list. It was like an order form for a restaurant stock supply!

"24-pound turkey, honey-glazed ham, four…" his eyebrows nearly shot up off of his forehead, "four bags of hash browns?" His gaze skittered further down the list. There were enough baking ingredients there for them to open their own bakery.

"You look about like I did when the wife sent me out this mornin'."

Edward looked up to see a man moving past him pushing one cart and pulling another one, both of them packed to overflowing with groceries. He nodded and lifted the hand with the list as the man maneuvered his load into the checkout aisle. He pulled his phone out, growling under his breath as he flipped it open and hit number three on his speed dial.

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Dean patted the side of the bus as they passed it. "She sure is a beaut. Unfortunately…" he led the way around to the back end where the engine was hanging from a hydraulic lift, "Murphy really shit on your parade, boys. She's gonna need more than just major surgery to get her roadworthy again."

Kyle saw the problem right away but he allowed Dean to take the lead and walk the guys through the major issue they were facing. He had already suspected it was bad and he had tried to tell them but this was even worse than he had thought.

"See that rod right there?" Dean asked. Max and Michael followed his pointing finger as he leaned over to pick something up off of the floor. "Yup, this's what's left of it." His forefinger traced over one end of the rod. "For some reason it detached and went right through the block." He motioned to the engine again, drawing their attention to the obvious defect. "That's one big ass crack, guys."

Kyle was watching Michael's features, seeing the tension building with each new nail in the van engine's coffin. Oh, he was gonna blow at any minute.

Max scratched the back of his head. "Well, yeah, but it can be fixed, right?" His gaze shot to Kyle when the other guy let out a nervous laugh.

"Not with all the king's horses and all the king's men, El Presidente."

"You've got some options of course," Dean said, glancing between them. "There's no way to repair that crack; your engine's shot. Even a rebuild's gonna be costly."

Michael was gritting his teeth. "When you say costly…"

"Upwards of $3,500. These babies don't come cheap. Of course, then you're gonna have to factor in the shipping costs and labor so you're lookin' at a pretty good chunk of change before you're finished. Your other option would be to look around for another vehicle. I've got a buddy who buys these classics and restores 'em. Shane doesn't sell parts for 'em but he does have a bunch of old vehicles out on his property. He might have somethin' to interest you." He shrugged. "You're likely to come out cheaper. There's no rush to decide though. I'll have to stop in and check with Shane. He doesn't keep a phone so a visit's the only way to get 'hold of him." He scratched his head. "Yeah, ah, Shane, he's kinda in his own world there off 55."

Kyle nodded as he glanced at Michael, noting the slightly confused look on his face. "If we could have a little time to decide that'd be great."

"Cool. I've gotta finish runnin' your information and then I'll put it on the hold list until you've had some time to figure out how you'd like to proceed. If I could get one of you to sign off on the paperwork that'd be great. I can go ahead an' run your VIN while I'm at it. I was gonna do it before but the system was down yesterday afternoon and when I got in this mornin' I got sidetracked by my girl's car." He nodded at the Jetta he had been working on.

"Figured that was a chick's car," Michael muttered to cover for the myriad of panicked thoughts at Dean's comment about running their VIN.

"Yeah," he laughed, "she's home from college for the holidays and she knows the labor's cheap if I do it."

Max glanced at Michael, taking in the tic in his tightly clenched jaw. "Why don't I go take care of that paperwork," he suggested.

Dean nodded. "Cool. I've got everything in the office. Follow me."

"I'll take care of it," Max said to Michael as he passed him. "Just… I don't know… go see if you can dig our sunglasses outta the van or somethin'." He glanced at Kyle, mouthing the words 'keep him occupied'.

Kyle nodded and waited until Max had disappeared into the office behind Dean. "So, El Capitan, wanna go find our sunglasses? I don't know about you but I could do without bein' blinded on the trip back to the house. I think my corneas may have already gone into shock… they may never recover from the earlier abuse."

Michael was staring after Dean and Max, his temple starting to throb because his back teeth were grinding so hard.

"Yo, Michael, hey, let Max handle it." He had no idea why Max was suddenly stepping up and showing an interest, but it was a good thing and he had every intention of encouraging him to continue that behavior. "Look, let him work his magic on the computer or whatever… you try it in this state and you're likely to blow the damn thing up." He reached out and slapped the other guy's shoulder. "Wanna know what I was thinkin' about in the truck?"

"Not really."

"You sure? It'll make ya laugh."

"Let's just get this over with," Michael said, following Kyle as he picked his way around the tools and parts on the floor. He leaned against the side of the van while Kyle climbed inside to dig around and his gaze strayed to the ugly green Jetta. He glanced back towards the office as he found his feet leading him to the car that was so familiar and so different at the same time.

Kyle was leaning over between the front seats, moving paper around as he looked for sunglasses when he glanced up and noticed Michael. He stood next to the Jetta, his mind a million miles away. Or maybe just as far as Roswell, a certain blonde and another Jetta, he mused.

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Julia reached for the phone just as Maggie let out a sound of pure happiness. She leaned back to look out through the window as her husband started going on about the list she had sent with him, insisting that she must be out of her mind to think he was buying enough food to feed an army.

"Mrs. Dayna's here!" Maggie ran over to Mama as she shouted excitedly.

She put her hand up to quiet her daughter. "Edward, the list is right… And Dayna's at the door. Hang on a minute I'll be right back. I have to go get the door." She set the receiver down just as Isabel volunteered to answer the door for her.

On the other end of the line Edward was listening to the rustling sounds as Dayna entered the kitchen and he glanced over the list once more. Why was she at the door? He leaned on the cart, his morose gaze locked on the walkway that bypassed all of the aisles that suddenly loomed ahead like a stretch of highway with no end in sight. He shifted the phone when he heard Julia pick the handset up but then her voice was slightly muffled, which meant her hand was over the mouthpiece.

"Eddie, go put Cleopatra's box in the mudroom."

His teeth started to grind when her muted words began to filter into his ear and he shook his head. Cleopatra was Dayna's cat. That thing practically went everywhere with her. She even had a special bag she carried the thing around in. And of course, let's not forget the portable litter box. Ungh, one more reason why dogs were far superior animals.

"Edward, where were we?"

He shook his head and lifted the list up once more, opening his mouth to speak when the proverbial light bulb came on. Dayna Martin was at his house and they were baking 12 dozen cookies. And then there was the tall blonde along with Santa's elves… what were their names? Oh, right, Snowflake and Candycane. He was in trouble, big time. Arguing with her wasn't going to get him anywhere.

He sighed and dropped the list back into the cart. "I can't quite make out how many bags of hash browns you wanted," he said in a defeated tone.

"Four please. I think that'll be sufficient."

It'd be something alright, he thought. Sufficient wasn't necessarily the first word that came to mind though. He decided to just buy the food and hope he could return the nonperishable stuff later on…. in a day or two, after all the kids were gone.

He couldn't help but smile at the sound of Julia and Maggie's voices; they were so excited about putting Tawas Lake's Christmas together. He took in a deep breath and reached for another cart. "Okay, Julia, I'm gonna be a little late." He nodded at her response and smiled. "Bye, I love you too." Yes sir, he did, and sometimes it was downright painful. He stared at the phone in his hand for a moment. He should probably call the boys and let them know he wasn't gonna be there right away. Ah, maybe Dean would run them down to the Walmart. He snorted quietly. "Let them haul all these groceries around," he muttered under his breath as he hit the speed dial button to call Julia's phone.

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Max stood in the small office looking at the picture frames on the wall mixed in among engine diagrams and a county map. He leaned on the corner of the desk where the computer sat as he craned his neck to look at the single picture amidst framed certificates, awards, and even a few newspaper clippings.

Dean glanced up and smacked the side of the monitor when the screen suddenly went blank and turned bright blue. "Damn, not again. This p.o.s. just died last week."

Max smiled and scratched his forehead as he motioned to the photograph on the wall. "This a picture of your girl?"

The mechanic looked up at the picture and smiled. "Yeah, that's my April. She's really artistic." He held his left arm out, proudly showing off the tattoo sleeve. "She recently started designing body art." He shook his head. "She's somethin' else, but her car? Don't get me goin' on that thing. I sometimes have it more than she does."

Max watched him as he frowned at the computer once more before he started opening up desk drawers, looking for the old-fashioned work order forms.

"Here we go. We'll just write up the order for the diagnostics on the bus and leave it here till you guys decide how to proceed." He started scratching out the order in a barely legible scribble. "I'll take a drive down 55 and hit up Shane's place on my way home, give you all a call at the Stevens' place in the mornin'."

Max nodded. "Sounds good."

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Michael was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Max and Dean step out of the office and back into the shop. He turned his head and listened as they talked about wives and girlfriends. He heard a phone ringing and he glanced around in search of it.

"That'd be you, El Capitan," Kyle reminded him.

"No shit, Sherlock," Michael bit out as he dug around in his pocket for the phone. He stared at it for several seconds before Kyle suddenly appeared next to him to snatch it out of his hand.

"He's got a bad history with cell phones," he said when Dean glanced between the two of them. "Just ask his girlfriend."

Dean listened to the one-sided conversation, nodding when Kyle glanced up at him. "Sounds like you're gonna need a ride out to the Walmart," he said with a grin. "I need to give my girl's car a test run anyway."

Kyle relayed the information to Edward and after a few more seconds he ended the call and handed the phone back over to Michael. "He wants us to meet him in the frozen food section." He shrugged at the looks the guys gave him. "Hell, I don't know, that's where he said to meet him."

Once Dean had cleared a few things up and slammed the hood on the Jetta they all piled into the car, resuming their former seating arrangement. Michael glanced around as he pulled the seatbelt across his chest, clearly hearing Maria's voice as she recited the cost of everything Laurie Dupree had been intent on trashing while they had her locked inside the car. He had been on the phone with Max and Isabel but Maria had kept up a running commentary that he hadn't been able to block out.

"The side mirror. One hundred bucks, not including labor."

….

"Sun visor. Fifteen bucks, including labor, of course."

….

But she had lost it when Laurie had lunged for her walkman.

"No, no, no, no, no. Now – now you're hurting all of us."

His features sobered as he thought about her love of music. Something that in this life with him she could never pursue. He hated that she'd had to give that up for him.

"Not the dash! Not the dash! That is a major deal to replace."

He smiled faintly at the memory as he ran his fingertip over the dashboard.