Ending Two, Part 14 (or Part 90)

Diane Evans was pulling a load of laundry out of the dryer when the door behind her opened and Philip came inside. Even though he looked exhausted there was an air of something she couldn't quite pinpoint. "Philip?" She placed a couple of folded shirts on the dryer and turned to face him fully. "What is it?"

He sighed and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. He wasn't even sure where to start. The entire meeting in his office had been surreal and there was just no way to tell Diane about it without scaring her half to death.

"Philip, whatever it is, this silence isn't settling my nerves a bit."

"Of course. I think we should have a seat in the living room, Diane."

"Something's wrong, isn't it?" She brushed her hands over her thighs as she sat on the sofa. "Is it the children? Are they in danger?"

"No, I don't believe they're in danger. At least not right now." He sat down beside her and reached over to still her hands. "I met someone tonight," he started. "He knows about the kids."

She swallowed with difficulty. "How?"

He laughed humorlessly and shook his head as he stood and began to pace. "You're not gonna believe this."

"Did he know them before they were abandoned in the desert? Is he the one who abandoned them?"

"No, he's never even met them."

"But you said…" she trailed off, going over her husband's exact words. "Wait, you said he knows about them." She rubbed the cushion she was sitting on, using the motion to ground herself. "You meant he knows they're different from other children."

"Yes."

"Does he know why or how?"

"He claims to be just like them."

She shook her head. "No. If this man knows about them they're no longer safe here. We need to take them and leave before – "

"Diane," he moved to stop her before she could get up. "Diane, we need to keep calm and deal with this in a rational manner."

"Calm and rational?" she echoed incredulously. "Philip, we're talking about our children! Some man we don't even know just showed up out of the blue and told you he knows they're different and that he's like them." She reached out and grabbed his forearms. "How do you even know he is who he said he is? He could be here to take them!"

"He wants to be involved in their lives – "

"Absolutely not!"

"We're getting ahead of ourselves here. Why don't we start from the beginning," he suggested.

Diane nodded and forced down the fear that was trying desperately to claw its way out. Philip wasn't the type of man who panicked; he tackled things from a logical, rational standpoint, sorted through the information and picked out the pertinent parts, and once he had filtered everything else out he studied what was left and made an analytical decision. That helped to calm her until her husband got to the part where the man had been armed.

"This man broke into your office and he had a gun? You can't possibly think someone like that should be around our children."

"Honey, let me finish explaining before you go off the deep end. Please. I don't believe he's a threat to the kids. I listened to what he had to say and I think he's sincere. I would never let anyone close to our kids if I felt they were a threat."

"And you know I trust your judgment. You're an excellent judge of character and even though you believe this man to be acceptable, he's a virtual stranger, Philip. And I find it suspicious that a grown man wants to spend time with two nine-year-olds. You must find that odd."

"Well," he cleared his throat and tugged his collar away from his skin, "he would be 15 years old right now."

"You just said some man held you at gunpoint and…" she frowned in confusion. "I don't understand."

"The man, his name is Michael Guerin, and at this time he's 15 years old."

"You talk about him like he's two different people."

"He is… and he isn't."

"That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever."

He cleared his throat. "Diane, the man who came to see me tonight is from the future." He held his hands up to stop the words that were moments from erupting. "He came back in time to stop us from getting into an accident that would've taken our children's lives."

Diane's fingertips feathered against her throat as his words hit her with a nearly physical impact. "How can you be certain that what he said is true?"

"He was able to prove he's who he says he is."

She placed her elbows on her knees, clasping her hands together so she could rest her forehead on them. This was all too much to take in. "I suppose next you'll tell me that they're not human." The laughter that bubbled up held just a hint of hysteria.

"We've always known they're different, Diane. Now we know how."

"Of course. It makes perfectly good sense. So they're what? Aliens?"

"They're hybrids actually. Half-alien and half-human."

She lifted her head and her gaze moved past her husband to land on the framed pictures that covered the surface of the mantle above the fireplace. They had known that Max and Isabel weren't like other children, had known there was something special about them that set them apart, had known it meant they needed to be protected, but most of all they had known Max and Isabel needed the unconditional love of parents who understood just how special they were.

She inhaled deeply, calming her nerves by sheer will before looking at Philip and nodding for him to continue.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Isabel was exercising her mental abilities and rearranging her closet when she heard the slight metallic click that always accompanied someone turning the knob on her bedroom door. She quickly shoved everything back in the closet and closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep. The door creaked quietly as it was slowly pushed open and a moment later she cracked one eye open to see who it was.

"Max!" she hissed, her tone clearly expressing her annoyance with him.

He closed the door and ran across the room, jumping up on her bed and jostling her violently. "I heard Mom an' Dad talkin' real quiet."

She raised an imperious eyebrow. "And…?"

"They were talkin' about a man named Michael. Dad said he came to his office an' told him stuff about us."

"The same Michael that we saw in your dream?"

He rolled his eyes. "Duh, I just said he knows stuff about us." His voice lowered to a whisper. "Dad said he's from the future, Iz! An' we're like superheroes!"

Her eyes narrowed at him as she slowly levered herself into a sitting position. "I think you had a dream and you just think you heard Dad saying stuff like that." No, it wasn't likely that he could've come up with all of that on his own. Flying around in a cape and saving Liz Parker, yes, she'd believe his stupid boy brain could come up with that, but the idea that the stranger they had followed on the dreamplane was from the future? No way, it was ridiculous! But, what if Mom and Dad really knew they were different? She reached up and started to twirl the edges of her hair around her forefinger. Would they still love them? What if they didn't want them anymore?

Max crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at her. "I did too hear Dad say that stuff." He shuffled closer to her and lowered his voice even more. "They know we're different, Izzy. Dad said they know. And that Michael guy? He told Dad we're half-alien!"

Aliens were ugly and scary, she thought as she unconsciously brought her hair close to her mouth and nibbled on the tips nervously. In the movies people were always scared of them even when they weren't mean and they tried to hurt them just because they were different. She didn't want to be an alien. Her eyes widened as a thought occurred to her and she reached down to touch her skin. What if this wasn't what they really looked like and they just didn't know it?

They'd always known they were different and they'd even guessed that maybe they were aliens, but it had always been just a guess. But somehow in her mind that thought had never made her consider it could be something bad, that they could be something bad. But if Mom and Daddy thought that how could they love them anymore?

"Why's your face look like that?" Max asked as he leaned in close so that their faces were barely inches apart.

She pushed him away and glared at him. "My face always looks like this," she hissed.

"Huh-uh, you're lying."

"Shut up, Max. We gotta think about what to tell Mom and Dad."

He chewed on one side of his bottom lip for a moment as he watched her. "Why? He already told Dad about us so they know, Iz, an' you always say you wanna tell them anyway."

"But not like this. Not that we're aliens."

"We always thought it though." He didn't understand why girls couldn't ever make their minds up. Well, he amended, not all girls. Liz was real smart, she'd know what to do.

Isabel's eyes narrowed again and she shook her head at him. "It's easy to make your mind up when you've got a hundred ice cream choices and you choose vanilla every time!" She hated that sometimes she could pick up on his thoughts when he was close and one of them was stressed. And really? He was comparing her to Liz Parker?!

He made a face at her and was on the verge of sticking his tongue out at her when they heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway. He could feel his sister's fear and he reacted instinctively, throwing his hand out towards the perceived threat and shielding her from danger. His eyes widened and he stared at his hand, feeling his sister's fear suddenly merging with a sense of wonder as she reached out to touch the green shield that shimmered between them and their wide-eyed parents.

"Max," Isabel whispered as she absorbed the confusion radiating off of him. This was new; she had never seen him do this before and based on his reaction he hadn't known it was something he was even capable of.

"You were scared and…" He slowly turned to look at her, the words slipping away as he tried to figure out how they were going to explain this to their parents.

"Isabel, Max," Diane murmured, squeezing Philip's hand as she cautiously took a step closer. She could see the fear in their expressions, could practically feel it coming off of them as they realized they had just revealed themselves. "It's alright." Her gaze moved over the rippling green wall between her children and herself and she forced down her trepidation before she raised a hand and touched it.

Lightening danced along the edges of her fingertips and she had the sense that it existed to protect rather than harm. She was just about to withdraw her hand when she felt the strangest sensation, the faint tendrils of… fear. Her gaze lifted to her children and with her free hand she reached out to her husband.

"You don't have to be afraid," she assured them. "Daddy and I know you're special and we love you so much." She didn't want to use the word different because they already felt isolated and based on the emotions they were transmitting loud and clear they were terrified that they had been exposed and they were no longer safe or wanted.

Philip followed his wife's lead and placed his palm against the green wall. He didn't know what to expect, but certainly it wasn't the flood of emotions that washed over him, startling in their intensity. His heart broke for his children when he realized the emotions were coming from them. It wasn't bad enough that they unknowingly had the weight of two worlds resting on their young shoulders, but now they feared their place in this world. They feared their parents would no longer accept them or want them.

He crouched down, careful to keep his palm flat against the green wall that shielded them, sensing that embracing this special ability that so obviously set them apart from everyone else was somehow important. "Do you remember the day we brought you home?" He made certain to make eye contact with them, letting them see the acceptance and love that was never far from the surface. "That was the happiest day of our lives. We love you both very much and nothing will ever change that."

Diane held her breath as she watched Isabel slowly reach out to her brother, their hands clasping as they looked at each other. Were they capable of some sort of silent communication or was it simply that connection that existed between close siblings that mimicked telepathy at times? She could still remember the day they had brought their children home and their confusion at their surroundings made so much more sense now. They had learned and adapted quickly, but they'd had no knowledge or understanding of the most basic things.

Her eyes moved to the green wall when it began to shimmer and she was surprised to feel it lose some of its solidity. "Philip," she whispered, feeling hope sweep through her when Isabel looked at them.

Max followed his sister's gaze when she turned back to their parents and he felt the fear begin to recede as Mom and Dad reassured them that they were loved and wanted. They were things he needed to know too because he had just revealed himself to them in a way he couldn't take back or hide and it scared him to think they'd send him away. The shield continued to weaken as the words and expressions on their parents' faces began to replace that fear and before long it vanished, leaving no barrier between them.

Relief flooded through them when the same people who had rescued them from the desert, the same people who had taken them in and raised them as their own, reached for them. They were drawn into their parents' embrace and held close as more words of reassurance were whispered, but it was the simple and yet complex feelings of love and acceptance that allowed them to relax into their arms and finally return that embrace.