Pygmalion

By DocPaul

Chapter Thirty-nine: Blackened

Blackened Is the End
Winter it Will Send
Throwing All You See
Into Obscurity
Death of Mother Earth
Never a Rebirth
Evolution's End
Never Will it Mend
Never  

~Metallica~

Day Fifty-three: Friday, 1:03 am

“You know, he’ll be okay. You could go home,” Jackie said from the door.

“I could say the same to you. Don’t you doctors ever get to go home?” Alex asked dryly, watching his sleeping cousin.

Jackie came into the room, putting Eddie’s chart down on the bedside table. “I should have admitted you too. Both of you have a concussion. Yours is slight, but still…”

Alex waved off her concern. “I feel fine.”

“Fine, huh?” Jackie held up two fingers. “How many fingers?”

“Two. Well...two sets of two.” Alex smiled slightly. “Which is much better, believe me. Six hours ago it was four sets.”

“Used to seeing in double vision?”

“You’d be surprised how many different ways I see.”

Jackie quickly checked Eddie’s vitals. It was late, and she had hours before her shift ended. It had taken six stitches to close the wound on Eddie’s forehead. It hadn’t helped that he and Alex hadn’t come to the ER until hours after the car accident. From what Jackie could surmise, they had helped dig out a portion of a cave and seal it up in a different way. She missed what they were saying, but gathered it was something ritualistic.

“Really, I would like you to go home. I’ll watch over him. I promise. You need to go and rest, otherwise, I really should admit you.”

“Going home is a good idea,” said Isabel from the doorway.

“Iz!” Alex was confused. How did she know that he was here?

“Before you ask, Michael called me.”

Alex made a face. Figured. Guerin and his big fat mouth.

“I take it the doctor feels you need to go home and rest, correct?”

“Correct,” said Jackie pushing her advantage. Rule of engagement. Men were pigheaded and stubborn, but women were worse when it came to their men’s health. “He has a slight concussion and won’t accept treatment.”

“Alex…”

Alex knew when to give up. He could handle most things most of the time, but not right now, and definitely not against two strong women such as Isabel and Jackie. His head hurt. The double vision was making it worse, and losing his grandfather all in one day was more than he could bear. “Let’s go then.”

Isabel looked at Jackie in surprise. She had expected it take much more to convince Alex. He had to be really hurt to give in so easily.

“C’mon then.” Isabel pushed the advantage before it was lost. “Thank you, doctor.”

“Visiting hours are at nine in the morning. I’ll keep an eye on Eddie for you until then.”

Alex acknowledged her offer, and let Isabel lead him away. Damn he felt so tired.

Jackie watched him walk away, and he only looked back twice until he cleared the door. Smiling, she took a seat next to Eddie’s bed and did her charting and another patient assessment note.

“He finally left.”

Jackie made a noise in her throat. “Surprising isn’t it?”

“You have no idea.” Eddie reluctantly opened his eyes. The light was searing. Jackie seemed to sense that, so she quickly pulled the light cord to dim the room. “Thanks for getting him to go home. I was too tired to really wake up and convince him.”

“You’re lucky to be so loved.”

“I know that.”

Jackie put her note aside. “So you’re an archaeologist at the University.” She leaned back pursing her lips. “Know Maria DeLuca?”

“Guerin. Maria DeLuca-Guerin.” Eddie shut his eyes and nodded. “Yeah, we’re good friends. She’s my mentor.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Jackie sighed, tired from her long shift. “So what was this thing you had to do before you could come into the ER?”

Eddie’s eyes narrowed and darkened. Jackie could see the barely suppressed emotions. “It was a burial. My grandfather was caught in a cave-in. We cleared back the entrance, and then prepared a place for his things to take to the afterlife. His pipe, medicine bag, and a few other things. It’s not good for a man to walk among the elders, unprepared to sit in council.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

Eddie smiled his thanks. “Perhaps not the smartest thing, ignoring a concussion, but it was important.” Eddie ignored the bruised ribs and wrenched knee. They were unimportant in comparison to his personal lose.

“Of that, I’m certain.”

Eddie slowly closed his eyes and trusted her to keep a careful watch. Somehow he trusted her.

~~~

Jack Baxter looked tired when he entered the room. Sean was sleeping with his head down and Max was talking to Michael and Jim. Daniel was coordinating things on his cell phone despite it being after three in the morning. They all ignored the three FBI agents in the room.

“Jack, what you got?” Daniel asked as he disconnected.

“Security cameras from the interrogation rooms and the outer halls,” Jack put three tapes down. “It’s not good.” He quickly inserted the first tape.

They watched the hall outside the interrogation rooms. A guard was standing outside, when suddenly the tape went to white snow. Michael sat up straighter. Jack replaced that tape with another, the tape from inside the observation room. It showed two officers inside. The door opened, both officers looked at the door, and one officer asked the person what they were doing there before the tape recorded both cops being flung backwards through the air, hitting the wall, and sliding into heaps with their chests burning. The tape then cut to white snow.

Michael looked at Max sharply. The three agents in the room Burns, Stevenson and Topolsky suddenly came forward and Topolsky quickly took out her phone.

The final tape was from the interrogation room itself. Chameleon was sitting there with a guard. The door opened and the look of surprise on the guard’s face was quickly replaced with fear as the guard was flung backward against the wall and quickly died. Their eyes were then riveted on Chameleon. They could see the fear on his face, and then as before, the tape cut to snow.

Pierce. Nasedo. The Shapeshifter. It didn’t matter what name they gave him. He had walked into the PD, killed at will, and they were none the wiser. Now they had three FBI agents interested in the outcome. Nothing was going to change that.

“Jesus,” said Michael without thinking, and then quickly covered. “What the hell was that? How did…”

Burns interceded. “That information is currently, as of now, classified. You will not mention these tapes. You will not mention what you saw. You will not talk about it among yourselves, and most important...,” Burns motioned for Topolsky to take the security tapes. “....there were never any tapes. Our Chameleon problem is currently solved.”

The group watched as the FBI agents left, taking all the hard evidence they had with them. “You make copies?” Daniel asked Jack.

“You bet your ass.”

Michael smirked into his cup of rotten coffee. Damn he was tired. He really needed a shower and bed.

~~~

Maria made a soft contented sound at the feel of his body getting into bed with her. Moving into his skin, she nestled closer and smiled softly as his hand rubbed her stomach as he settled into sleep. The morning was fast dawning, and the room was losing its darkness.

Maria’s brow creased in concentration as a dream pulled at her.

We are the same. We are the same. Walking through the grounds covered in marble along an alcove, into strange gardens in a strange land. Maria looked up at a figure that had no real discernible form; it melded into the shadow upon which it hid. The figure motioned to her for silence.

A man paced the room in a fury. Maria frowned. Rath. Her Michael...but not. She watched as a woman followed him. Slower, with more intent. The woman made a sneering sound at the man, and he responded by turning on her. They stood facing each other in anger, and from where Maria observed, the rage was like a wave of heat.

“So, my fiancée? How lucky I am!” came the woman’s sarcastic greeting.

Rath sneered at her. “Over my dead bones, much as I would leave them! They would be worth not even a meal of meat.”

“Hmm. Poetic. How…human, Rath. Or perhaps those are your doggish Celzia traits rising.” Vilandra shrugged. “Zan is in all things, predictable. Marrying us, so we can’t transfer our loyalties to others. Though why he thinks you would ever marry at all is beyond me. After all, your genetics are part of the One. If rumor holds, there will never be a love for you, but the one you find on Earth.”

“I do not believe that rubbish. Earth. Pah!! What am I to care about a backward planet too far away to touch me? What am I to care about some hyped-up destiny? This is merely Zan’s ego. Zan’s folly. Not mine. I will murder you in your sleep and do it happily before I would ever join to you.”

Vilandra laughed. “Well, be that as it may, brother. Maybe you should consider the offers of alliance from your little worshippers. Zan is obviously not fit to rule in any time, any world, or any place. It is disgusting to think that he would order our marriage. Me to a brother? Especially you!”

Rath grabbed Vilandra hard pulling her up to him, and stared directly in her face. “You would be extremely lucky to have me, my....sister. After that weak-kneed Kivar, your trained pussy boy. I am out of your league. You could never control me. Never hold me. And if this marriage would ever come about, you would always know that to me you are nothing. If this destiny is true, then you are not even second best in my life. You can count the order of importance as first and foremost, my destined lover, my armies, my mother’s world, and my throne. You figure so close to nothing, it hardly matters to mention, and should notice that I did not bother to even add you to the list.”

Vilandra pulled herself free of his hand and spat on the ground in front of him. “I hate you! I’ve hated you since the day you first breathed.”

“As I did you.” Rath’s voice lowered. “But mark my words. I own  you according to Zan. He gives me your hand in marriage? Then fine. That makes you mine. Mine to do with as I please.” Rath moved closer to his sister, taking a hank of her hair and pulling it hard. “Do you need me to paint you a picture of marriage to me? I wouldn’t touch you, but I’d more than happy pass you on to my soldiers. I am sure many of them have wondered about bedding a real Princess. Pray for death, Vilandra or pray for a reprieve, because married to me, you will find death is merely a escape from a life of which I fear even you can’t conceive.”

Vilandra’s skin blanched in paleness as the very color of her skin leached away. “Bastard!”

Rath laughed cruelly in her face and then left, walking from the palace at a hurried pace. Vilandra watched him leave in horror. That was not the way she had planned it to be. She had expected Rath to rage and rebel against Zan. She had not imagined that he would go along with it, and direct his anger, bitterness, and spite on her. She had sadly miscalculated. Rath. He was always the unknown equation.

“You should fight it.” Maria frowned as the figure emerged from the shadow. Sa’rel.

Vilandra looked at the protector Shapeshifter with disdain. “Why should I listen to you, Shifter?”

Sa’rel shrugged. “Perhaps because I am in a position to know things. Important things.”

“Such as?”

Sa’rel smiled sadly. “Such as the fact that you and Rath will never marry.”

Vilandra’s eyes narrowed. “What do you know, Sa’rel? All my life you have been here, in the shadows. Close to my brother. Closer than anyone. You are the only constant in Zan’s life. What does he tell you that he doesn’t tell the rest of us?”

Sa’rel’s head bowed. “I should not divulge what I know, but I will. It is not disloyal since others will soon know as well.”

“What? Tell me!”

“Zan told Nicolas that your genetics and those of the Queen are also in the Granilith. The only genetics missing are those of Zan. This has increased his belief that you are one of the Royal Four. Your genetics were altered, like Rath’s and the Queen’s. Altered with human additives. But the genetics have a joining to human ones. Altered human genetics.”

“So my genetics were not joined to Rath’s?”

Sa’rel looked around in fear in case they were overheard. “No. He is not your destiny. He never was. He never will be. There...,” Sa’rel pointed to the stars in the sky. “There lies your destiny, my Princess. There lies your way.”

Vilandra sighed. “Damn his hide! Rath is right. This destiny rubbish is nothing. Nothing I want. Nothing I need. I will have a throne. I will rule Antar someday.”

Sa’rel looked up and stared the Princess in her face. “Yes, you will.”

Maria came awake with a start. It was late. The sun was shining through the shades. Snuggling into Michael, she muttered against his skin.

“Hmm?”

“They were so unhappy.”

“Who?” Michael murmured sleepily.

“All of them.” Maria whispered as she went back to sleep.

~~~

Vanessa was unprepared for her visitor, but smiled anyway. “So you came to me?” She pushed her breakfast aside and sat back, enjoying the luxury of staring down a noble opponent. “What is the occasion?”

“None. You, Vanessa, are a hard one to understand. What is your purpose in Roswell?”

“I thought that was obvious. Why are any of us in Roswell?”

“I am here to protect. It has always been my job, my duty, and my destiny.”

Vanessa laughed. “Oh, that is grand! Do I believe that for a moment? I don’t think so. When? When, I ask you, have you ever been a mere protector? You have an agenda.”

“As do you.”

Vanessa stood up to walk around private hotel room, the hotel room she had leased for the remainder of her stay. The Towers were very accommodating with luxury suites and a five star restaurant.

“I never denied that I had a purpose,” Vanessa looked back at him. “When did you know that I was a Skin?”

“When didn’t I? I can smell a Skin from a mile away. I believe I was the hard one to find. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Vanessa made a face, but her anger was evident. No one liked to be called predictable or easily discovered. “You hid well. Years went by and we never found you. Not until now. Not until you revealed yourself.” She was uncomfortable. He wasn’t acting the way she imagined he would. He was indiscernible, even to her. “Why now? Why take the chance? Why me?”

“Why you?” He laughed. “Why not you? Your vanity was easy to exploit. You made a mistake.” He moved into the room to take a piece of bacon off a plate. “Your mistake was approaching the protected ones, and their families. Working from the outside, or even in the area is one thing, but I cannot allow you to get too close to them.”

“You can’t allow!” Vanessa laughed. “You have no powers over me, Shifter!” The sarcasm was evident in the word ‘shifter’, as she threw his nature back at him as if it were a blight, an insult.

He sat on the edge of the sofa wiping his fingers on a linen napkin. “How long have you known where to find me?”

“Oh, I pieced it together. It really wasn’t all that hard. Not at all. I had to really think about it, but once I did, it was obvious.”

“Hmm. You hinted at that. Did you think that I wouldn’t take notice?” He looked at the toast, and tossed it back on the plate after making a frown at it. Dry, like the Skin before him. Dry and peeling. “So now I am giving myself away.”

Vanessa looked at the hardness of his eyes. Unapproachable. “I didn’t really say that.” She had power, but he had more. Only a fool wouldn’t fear him.

“Yes, yes you did. I appreciate the criticism. I’ll have to do better.”

“How can you? The emotions of that body must be pulling at you. Over fifty years of shifting has to pay a toll.”

“I survive. But I am afraid that I can’t say the same of you. You really shouldn’t have threatened me, or those I protect.”

“You know?” Vanessa didn’t know how this could be, but she took stock of him, and she knew. “You know where the Granilith is!”

He laughed. Yes. He knew where it was. If he had thought about it more carefully, it would have been obvious. The Granilith would have honed to the Commander all those years ago. It would have placed itself behind his incubation pod or near it. The Granilith had to be in the special cavern holding the incubation pods, a place he hadn’t visited in years. After he found the Royals gone, that place had no purpose. He never bothered to return again.

“Yes. I know where the Granilith is.”

Vanessa searched his face, desperate to see if he was lying to her. “We could create an alliance, you and I. We would work well together, you’ll see.”

“I do not think so. I have created my own alliances.”

“Damn you!” Vanessa paced the room. “I need that Granilith! You think he will bring me back without it?”

“It does not matter.” He flicked lint off the front of his shirt frowning at the unfastened area. “In any event, you do not have much time left.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“No. It is not a threat if I plan to follow through.”

Vanessa walked around the room. “I don’t get it. You’ve known of me all these years, and yet you never said anything, not one hint that I was exposed. Now suddenly I am a threat?”

“I used you. Watched you. I was letting you lead me to the Royals, but all you did was find the Dupes. It did not matter. I found them on my own, as  I found the mate of the Commander on my own. It was just a matter of time before the Commander found her, with a little help. I knew that wherever she was, he would be near. So I concentrated my efforts on the surrounding area. Imagine my surprise when I read an article about a Detective living undercover on the streets too long, a Detective that the street people called ‘Rathman’. Amazing. There he was, the identical twin to the Dupe Rath, staring at me from the front page of the newspaper, with the twin to Zan next to him.” Pouring orange juice into a tumbler, he stared at her. It was nice to see her at a loss. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to run.

She hated him. In that moment, there was nothing she hated more than she hated him. He had done what the rest of them could not do. He had found the true Royals. “How will you explain my disappearance? A State Congresswoman is hard to lose.”

“Oh, do not worry, my dear. I plan to leave your husk for the authorities. It will be interesting to see how the FBI spins that story.”

“You’re exposing us all!”

“No. I am creating a war. The Skins left on this planet will have to worry about the FBI, and once they are too busy hiding and trying to avoid capture, that frees up the Royals to do fulfill their destinies.”

“Brood mares. Some destiny.”

“Some people actually want offspring. All of them are reproducing or thinking of it. They are getting older, almost thirty. It seems to be a natural human response and desire. That was why they had to be more human than alien. Aliens could care less about siring offspring, and too much alien essence made them sterile. More of a nuisance and hindrance, than an advantage. ”

“Especially when your heir is more likely to assassinate you when you live too long.”

“Indeed.”

Vanessa moved back as he advanced.

“Say goodnight, Vanessa.”

Before she could respond, he broke her neck with a quick twist of his hands.

“There. Nicely taken care of, and no dust or muss to clean up.”

~~~

“I don’t see why I can’t drive my car.” Maria said, frustrated, as she searched for chocolate milk. Michael was pushing donuts and pastry into a special bag.

“Maria, sprinkles. Yes or no?”

“What do you think?”

Michael laughed. “You worship sprinkles. Enough said.” He looked at the dozen he had bought and grabbed a second bag for another dozen. “One, you didn’t want to drive the GTO, and the Jetta is still with Kyle. Two, I’ve got the Mustang. So what were you planning to drive? The bike?”

“I could’ve taken the Mustang and you could’ve taken the bike.”

Michael made a noise under his breath. That wasn’t what was happening. “I need my Mustang today. I have to pick up Max, and I refuse to be seen driving my partner around Roswell on the Buell.”

Maria laughed. “Oh, I could so see the six o’clock news! ‘In Roswell today, a rogue cop duo terrorized the streets of Roswell! Film at ten.’ Showing pictures of Max gesticulating behind your back trying to hold on while you wave your fist at other motorists as you threaten to run…excuse me, nudge them out of the way.” Maria snickered at her own humor. She really did crack herself up at times.

“Keep it up, Professor, and I’ll take both dozens with me.”

Maria reached up and blew in his ear. “Really? You’d take the donuts from your own children’s mouth in spite?”

Michael looked down at his wife. “In a heartbeat. You are such a handful.”

Maria laughed and patted her stomach. “Getting there, Detective. Getting there.”

Michael laughed and took her container of chocolate milk to go pay, while Maria was distracted by an attractive display highlighting Whoppers and Milk Duds. Hmm. Milk Duds and popcorn. Of course that reminded her of the movies. The movies reminded her of sex. Maria laughed. Interesting how so many roads lead to her thinking to sex.

“Hands up!”

Maria paused at the loud voice. As she slowly and cautiously rounded the corner she saw a man, his face covered with a ski mask, pointing a gun at the convenience store clerk. His partner had a gun trained on Michael, who was holding the two bags of donuts in one hand, and the container of chocolate milk in another. He held his hands up, but not too far, so not to expose his shoulder holster holding his gun. He couldn’t reach for it with his hands both full.

The man covering Michael saw her.

“You! Over by him.” He motioned at Michael with his gun. Nice gun. Needed cleaning. Shocking how the average criminal refused to keep his equipment clean. Maria made a mental note to mention that to Michael later.

Michael was staring at the two robbers, sizing up how to take them down, if not with his gun, then with his powers. Maria frowned as she looked up at the security camera. Oh, that would be a mistake. Michael using alien powers on camera. Great.

“Look,” Maria said in her nice soothing low voice. “Can’t you just take the cash and go? I really need a donut and my milk. The babies are starving. It’s been two hours since breakfast.”

Michael moaned next to her. Great. She was chatting up the Sara Lee Snack cake bandits. They were going to make new rules as soon as they were finished with this episode of ‘Michael and Maria lead a normal life’.

“Maria...,” Michael warned at the same time that the man at the counter covering the clerk told her to shut up. Michael grimaced at the harsh tone, and then thought about offering the man condolences in getting Maria to shut up.

Maria’s eye narrowed at the man. Okay, he was just mean. The one with a gun on them didn’t seem so bad, so she concentrated on him.

“You really don’t want to do this. It’s a bad idea. Already the security camera has your faces, and what could be in the register? Seventeen dollars and some change?” Maria’s voice took on a soft sound that was much like the tone she used in lecturing. “And if you get nervous and actually make a mistake, like shooting someone, you’re looking at manslaughter or murder one. All that for a few bucks?”

“Shut up!” screamed the man with the clerk, but Michael could see the man who was covering them wavering. The other man was a hard case to crack. Michael’s eyes narrowed. Of the two, he probably had priors. This could be his third strike.

Michael glanced at Maria quickly and he noticed her nodding. “This was a bad idea. One that doesn’t have to go wrong. If you put down your weapons and back away, I’m sure no one will hold it against you.”

The man covering them put his gun on the floor and backed away from Michael and Maria. His friend watched him in horror. “Stan! Dammit, what the hell are you doing?”

“She’s right Richie. This is a bad idea. Man, seventeen dollars won’t pay my cable bill. It sure as hell isn’t worth the price of going to jail.”

Richie turned to Maria and waved his gun at her. “This is your fault!”

“No, it isn’t.” Maria ignored the sound Michael made in his throat as she slowly moved closer to the other man. “Stan made a good decision, I promise you. Make the same one.” Maria met the other man’s eyes. He was young. Too young to take to life of crime. “I’ll help you. Talk for you. I know the DA, and I promise this can be fixed. Don’t throw away your life on something as insignificant as a few dollars.”

“I…”

“Richie, Stan is your friend. He wouldn’t steer you wrong. This is a bad idea.” Maria held out her hand. “Give me the gun. C’mon. It’ll be okay. My husband, Michael will make sure you get a good deal.” Maria ignored Michael’s reaction to that.

Richie seemed unable to decide, but then he looked at Maria. Nodding he put the gun in her hand.

“See. Don’t you feel better already?” Both young men agreed with her. “Now I think you both should sit down there on the ground and wait for the police.” Maria reached over and grabbed a bag of donuts from Michael’s still raised hand. Handing them each one, she smiled. “Here, have a donut while you wait. Do you want some milk or coffee with that?”

“No, I’m fine,” said Stan.

“Can I have a coffee with cream?”

Maria smiled. “Sure.” Maria looked back at Michael. “Honey, can’t you get Richie a coffee? Don’t forget the cream.”

“And a sugar,” said Richie hopefully.

Michael looked at the clerk who shrugged. He could use a coffee too. Michael rolled his eyes as Maria and the group began to share stories, and he shook his head when the store clerk started to show them all pictures of his kids.

Michael stood to the side as Maria and the store clerk waved off the two would-be convenience store robbers. He watched as she shoved a card in their hands, and called Julia at the DA’s office. Michael closed his eyes and rocked on his feet. Okay, so he was going to owe his children a crapload of presents and stuff to pay for settling them with a whacked out mother, but from his perspective, they sort of picked her. When Maria turned around, she smiled at him, and Michael shook his head. He loved his kids. They had great taste, liking hot and spicy chicken wings, and a great mom.

“Maybe I should go with you to the PD to check up on Stan and Richie. I was thinking….”

“That you neglected the museum long enough.” Michael firmly took her arm waiting for her to say goodbye to Charley, the store clerk. Michael handed the man a twenty dollar bill to cover all the coffee and donuts all of them ate while waiting for a unit to come pick up Roswell’s two deadliest donut stealers.

“You pushed them.” Michael said softly in the car.

“No. I suggested it was a bad idea.”

“Uh huh.” Michael glanced at his wife. “So, is this a new trade for you? Going around, putting yourself and our unborn children in harm’s way to disarm people on the verge of making bad decisions?”

“Michael…”

“I need to know, Maria. I need to know now, because dammit, if it is, I am quitting my damn job, since babysitting you and the children will be all I can find time to do.”

“Are you saying I’m a fulltime job?”

Michael stopped at the red light, and turned in the seat. “That is what I’m asking. Are you going to be?”

Maria chewed on her lip, staring at the window, but also peeking at him discreetly. He was upset. She could feel that. Placing her hand on her stomach, she sighed. Okay, so maybe confronting men with guns was a bad idea. “No,” she said softly.

“No?” Michael took her hand from her stomach and kiss the back of it. “Thanks, Professor. You scared the crap out of me today.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you could get to your gun. There were two of them and one of you, and I knew that you’d either drop my chocolate milk, or use your powers.”

“My powers work fine.”

“I know that.” Maria smiled as he continued through the light, but first placed her hand on his thigh. “I was more concerned by the security cameras catching you using your powers.”

“So you used yours instead.”

“Mine are less obvious. I didn’t know that it would work, especially with Richie.”

“Then why did you push?”

Maria rubbed her hand up and down Michael’s leg. “They reminded me of Zeke, or what Zeke could’ve been if we hadn’t found him.”

Zeke. Michael swore. They had left the younger man in their loft watching TV while the construction crew finished up the final touches on the addition. Zeke had broken his arm in three places with the force of the fall he sustained from the bomb. Maria had fawned over him when Michael brought him home, but he was too busy talking about becoming a cop like Michael. Quick turnaround for the boy who started the day devastated by Margo’s leaving and assuring Michael he didn’t want to be a cop. Now he seemed determined to follow a family tradition.

~~~

Amy let herself into the loft, stopping at the door in shock at the sight of Zeke on the sofa eating and watching TV. It was the cast on his arm that caught her attention immediately.

“Zeke? Oh, my goodness! What happened to your arm? Was it Michael and the basketball court again? I told him to stop being so rough, and he promised that…”

“No. It wasn’t the basketball court. I was at the PD yesterday when the interrogation room was blown up along with Chameleon.” Amy frowned at Zeke’s excited voice, as he warmed on his subject.

Amy was quiet for a few moments listening, a part of her cringing at Zeke’s glee and enthusiasm as he related his story. It took a moment or two for what Zeke was saying to sink in. Cop? He wanted to be a Pig?

“A Pig! Over my saintly dead body!”

Zeke frowned. What was the stitch? “I don’t get it! You’re married to a pig…cop. Your daughter is married to a cop. Your stepson is a cop, and…..and your nephew is a cop. What the heck is wrong with cops?”

“Don’t use that type of language on me, young man!” Amy started pacing the room. “Granted, there are good cops. Namely the ones I know. But, do not be fooled! I have been detained, harassed, and cuffed by these Gestapo high-stepping thugs all my life. Do they care about the plight of the noble condor?”

“Aren’t condors extinct?”

“Exactly! Did they care? Obviously not!” Zeke winced as Amy warmed on her subject, detailing every instance that she had a run in with authority, including her own honeymoon. Amy, an obvious observer and expert on ‘Pigs’, went in for the kill. “Zeke, honey, they will make you wear an ugly hat, and baby, you’ll have to cut your hair.”

Zeke’s hand instantly went to his long curling dark locks in horror. “Surely not! Michael…”

“Is a detective who rarely follows protocol, and most turn a blind eye. New cops have to go to the Pig Academy, where they learn their despicable techniques of harassment and goose-stepping, and detaining peaceful protestors. There, baby, they make you conform. They mold and shape you, making you into a mindless thug….a mindless thug with short clipped hair.”

“Are you sure?” Zeke sat back on the sofa, devastated.

Amy, seeing Zeke’s face, immediately sprang into action, or as fast as she could spring, still carting around her evil cast on her leg. “I better make you some food.” She started piling pans on the counter, as she simultaneously checked the house for food. Nice. Well stocked. Well, almost. “I better call the butcher for a delivery. You’ll need something meaty. Have you ever tried tongue?”

“Tongue?” Zeke went even grayer.

~~~

“What’s going on?” Maria asked as she entered the loft. Eddie was on her heels, having given her a ride home, telling the events leading to him spending a night in the hospital. Maria dragged him home, and when she walked in the door she sniffed the smell of cooking in the air.

There were Amy and Zeke both trying to stick things down their casts to scratch that unreachable itch.

“Maria!” Amy waved at her daughter quickly hiding the wooden spoon she was using. “Honey, are you sure you feel up to going to the museum? I thought you would want to take it easy.”

“This is easy, Mom. I feel great. It’s Eddie who isn’t feeling so hot.” Maria said, quickly sacrificing Eddie to her mother’s loving care. He and Zeke needed it more. Maria left Eddie talking to her mother and Zeke and went upstairs to make a phone call.

“Guerin.”

Maria smiled at Michael’s pissy tone. “Detective, just the sound of your voice sends me into orgasms.”

Michael chuckled at the other end. Maria could imagine him sitting back in his chair reaching for his candy stash. “You’ve always been so easy, Professor.”

“You like me easy, Spaceboy. Don’t eat the last Zagnut candy bar. Please bring it home to me.” Michael tossed the candy bar he had grabbed back in his desk, not even bothering to ask how she knew which one it was. Taking a Payday, he took a bite.

“Whatcha need, Professor? You home?”

Maria giggled. “Bad interrogation technique, Detective. One question at a time. First, I need you. And second, yeah I’m home.”

There was silence on the other end. “Need me, need me? Or just feeling…horny?”

“Both.” Maria sat on the edge of the bed. Lowering her voice, she whispered, “Mom is here.”

“Oh, lord.”

“Philistine. She cooked, so let the rejoicing begin.”

“I’ll be home in ten minutes…fifteen tops. Don’t eat it all.”

Maria laughed, then her voice became serious. “Actually, it’s Eddie. I brought him home from the museum. They released him from the hospital this morning for good behavior, and except for an utter fascination for Jackie, your personal favorite doctor, he mentioned something about some stones.”

“Yeah, well if he’s developing a thing for Jackie the Resident, he’s obviously still in need of medical treatment or he else needs some big stones.”

Maria made a sound in her throat. “He should be so lucky to get her to notice him, but so far it’s ‘Jackie this’ and ‘Jackie that’, and you will note that he does use her last name. So what thinks you, my great detecting one?”

Michael snorted. “I’m thinking that Roswell is victim to a special new plague where no person is allowed to be single. What am I supposed to think? I’ve got enough problems with every person and their brother giving me details of their sex life. I would like to concern myself with only my own, and that also means yours.”

“Oh, I love it when you take a personal interest in my sexual fulfillment.”

“Yeah, well that’s why you married me. For my considerate nature.”

Maria smiled at the phone, “Oh, is that why? I thought it was because of your ‘considerable’ assets….um, endowments.”

Michael made a sound of indignation and shock, “Honey, people are around me. You make me blush.”

“Really…..where?”

“All over.” Michael motioned to Max. “Find a way to send your mom away, and we’ll be there in a few.”

“Does that include Sean? Because if it does I’ll have mom make more pasta.”

“Just find out what your mother wants, and get us out of Sunday’s family dinner.”

“Oh, no way. She’s already closed all the wiggleroom for us to get out of dinner. We haven’t been in weeks. She wants Sean, Julia, Kyle, Tess, the baby and us there. No excuses. So any wiggling there is to be done is going to have to come from you. I’m too fat to wiggle.”

Michael laughed at her description of herself. She was hardly fat, but she was definitely becoming nice and round. “I’ll be home soon.”

“Thanks, Detective.”

“So did you talk to Michael?” Amy asked when Maria came down the stairs.

“Stop trying to be clever. And yes I did. He needed to talk to Eddie, and seeing how you cooked, and I trapped Eddie here in my web, I thought it expedient to get them together.”

“Oh, my daughter the matchmaker. Is Sean coming? Do I need to put on more pasta?”

“Absolutely. Once he knows you cooked, there is no way Michael will be able to shake him. I should warn you though, he’s preparing a way to talk himself out of dinner on Sunday.”

Amy seemed to be pondering that piece of information. “Hmm. He’s getting really good at that. It wouldn’t surprise me if he created a crisis and destroyed a restaurant to get out of dinner. Best way to handle Michael is not to let him maneuver you. I’ve got to go, honey.”

Maria hid a smile. The two were becoming good at this type of physical chess they played trying to block, avoid, and deflect each other’s move. “Wait, Mom, why did you come by? To visit?”

“Oh! I forgot. I wanted to mention that Congresswoman Whitaker has missed three meetings today, and didn’t show up for our usual morning tea conference.” Amy grabbed her purse after shoving more pasta in a pot and handing Maria her spoon.

“You want Michael to look into it?”

“No. I’m sure it’s something Congress-related that detained her, but rather rude she didn’t call. Anyway I was going to call Jonathan, but he’s out of town. Chicago I guess. Anyway, I need more workers, and I was thinking that….”

“Oh, Mom, I’d love to help, but I can’t. The doctor said to keep myself free of stress, and put my feet up every few hours, so….”

“That’s okay, sweetie, that’s why I penciled you in for collating and envelope stuffing. With Zeke under the weather, he can help you, and maybe Eddie?” Amy said smiling at the two men and ignoring their looks of horror. “Well, ta ta! I really must go before Michael comes in with lame excuses and forces me to use all my really good ammunition.”

“Mom…., but Mom!” Maria watched her mother sail out the door with a quick wave. “Damn! We’ve just been mauled by the USS Amy.”

~~~

“So where is Alex?” Michael asked, his mouth full.

Eddie shrugged. “Probably still sleeping, or at the Reservation.”

“I’ll go see if he’s at Isabel’s,” Zeke offered, but Michael pushed him back on the sofa.

“Uh uh. You need to rest, because tomorrow you’re back in school.” Michael watched as Max and Sean filled up their plates with food. We need Alex to determine what these stones are, and how they connect to us.”

Max set his plate down and called Isabel. The rest went to work on eating while Max finished the call. “Isabel said Alex is at the club. He has a problem explaining where Freddie has gone to the rest of the band, and he’s getting his manager to run the place for next week. He wants to spend time at the Reservation to make sure that Nasedo doesn’t return.”

Eddie looked at his plate. “I should go there too. With RiverDog gone, and what protection my people had with silence gone as well. It could be dangerous for them.”

Michael shared a look with Max. “Do you need anything from us, Eddie?”

“No. We’re very used to protecting ourselves from those who would hurt and annihilate us. You worry about Roswell, and we’ll take care of the Reservation.”

“Done.”

Eddie smiled slightly. “Also, being at the Reservation takes me out of Amy envelope stuffing duty.”