Max
to the Max…..
“What do you mean, she’s one of us?” Michael asked,
his voice hard and unbelieving. Max didn’t answer. He took off, up along the
rock formation, climbing.
Isabel followed him. “Max, what is it?”
“Max.” Michael followed as well. They came to the flat
face of the rock formation. Max moved his hand over the rock face showing a
handprint. Placing his hand on the print, the doorway to a cave appeared.
Michael looked at Max. “How did you…?”
“I just knew.”
Isabel stared at the cave, her hand on Max’s arm. She
didn’t want this, none of this. “Max, we can’t…”
“We have to, Isabel. We have to find out.” Max
explained, finally agreeing with Michael.
They entered the cave, Isabel looking around and staying
close to her brother. “What is this place, Max?”
Tess entered the cave behind them. “It’s where we were
all born.”
Isabel shook her head, backing up. She didn’t want this.
None of this. Her hand was on her stomach. “No. No. No, I don’t believe
this.”
Max moved towards his sister. “Isabel, wait!” He looked
at Michael. “We can’t leave her alone, Michael. Come on.”
Tess stopped Michael before he could follow Max and Isabel
out of the cave. “You want to know, don’t you? You want all the
answers.” He was the inquisitive one. He was her only hope. “I can give
them to you, but first you have to convince them that I’m not your enemy.”
Tess handed him a book. A strange metallic book, heavy and alien. “Max
didn’t tell you about this, did he? Take it. It will prove to them that I
don’t want to hurt you. If you convince them then I can explain
everything.”
Michael stared at the girl for a moment, then at the book
in his hand. Another secret that Max had kept to himself. Michael went out of
the cave taking the book with him. At that moment Tess’s father, Ed Harding
materialized out of the wall.
“How could you bring them up here like this? You know the
Special Unit is close. You saw that camera! Who do you think put it on them in
the first place? Our friend, Pierce.”
“Oh yeah, so why don’t you just kill him?” Tess
asked. “According to Max, you’ve done that before.”
“What has he been telling you? You’re going to trust
him over me?” Nasedo needed her. He couldn’t let them move away from him.
“Listen, you and I have spent a lot of time together. Now I don’t want to
say we’re family…”
“You’re not my family,” said Tess angry with him.
“You never will be. Max, Michael and Isabel are.”
“Fine. Go have your little reunion. If I have to kill
people, I kill people. Pierce is dangerous. You all still need me if you
expect to survive him.”
Tess hesitated in leaving. “You’re really scared of
Pierce, aren’t you? More than the others.”
“He’s smarter. He’s closer to the four of you than
anyone’s ever been.”
~~~
Michael caught up to Max and Isabel. They were heading to
the jeep that Isabel and Michael had driven to the desert. Michael laid his
hand on Max’s shoulder in anger.
“You knew about this all along!” Isabel took the book
from Michael.
“Liz and I saw Tess take it from the library.” Max
confessed hating the look of betrayal on Michael’s face.
“It’s some kind of strange language.” Isabel said,
more to herself. She needed answers dammit, not more cryptic messages.
Michael couldn’t let it go. Max had done it again. He had
kept things from him, things that Liz knew. “Why would you keep something
like this from us?”
“Oh, my god!” Isabel said when she turned a page.
“What?” Max hurried to her side.
“This is me!”
Michael glanced over their shoulders. “It’s all of
us.”
“How did they know what we would look like?” Isabel
asked Max.
Michael frowned. He saw the pods. “‘Cause we were
designed.”
“That’s impossible, Michael.” Max said. He couldn’t
accept that.
“Whether you want to face it or not, we weren’t born,
we were engineered.”
“Do you understand what you’re saying?” Max asked
Michael. “What that means we are? I won’t believe that.”
Isabel hated it, but there was too much evidence to
substantiate Michael’s beliefs. “I think he’s right. I mean, we’re
paired just like in the pods. Max and Tess, Michael and me.”
“No, I belong with Liz.”
Michael shook his head. “Not according to this.”
“All that stuff Tess was talking about: signals and
destiny, that’s what this is.” Isabel looked at Michael. “You and me and
the baby, that what this is.”
Max stood up straighter looking at the two of them in
shock. “The what?”
“Isabel thinks she’s having a kid.” Isabel winced at
his tone, hating how impersonal it was.
“Yours?” Max asked, his disbelief evident on his face,
slowly being replaced by anger. “Now who’s keeping things from who?”
“It’s not what you think.” Isabel explained quickly,
not wanting to deal with another Max and Michael war. “We were never really
together. It all happened in those dreams we were having.”
Max breathed easier. “You can’t get pregnant from a
dream.”
“How do you know? We don’t know how we get pregnant.”
For once, Isabel let herself feel the frustration Michael at times felt with
Max. Denying things didn’t make it not so. “All I know is that something
is happening inside of my body, and we don’t know what it is.”
Michael hated seeing Isabel so afraid, so unsure. “I’m
going to Tess. She’s the one person who could tell us what the hell is going
on.”
“No. You can’t just go asking her things.” Max
couldn’t believe how nonchalant Michael was about dealing with Tess. “We
can’t trust her any more than we can trust Nasedo.”
“They may be the only ones who can help us, Max.”
Michael looked at Isabel frowning. They had to do something before Isabel lost
it.
“I’ll go. Look at the pictures. If she is going to talk
to anyone, it’ll be me.”
Isabel was thankful for Max wanting to help, but he was
giving in easier than she thought he would. “I thought you just said we
can’t trust her.”
“Who said anything about trusting her?”
“What are you saying?”
Max squeezed his sister’s hand. “I’m going to get her
to tell me what’s happening to you no matter what.”
~~~
Michael caught Maria on his way into the kitchen. “Hey, I
need to talk to you.”
Maria glanced at her watch. “Um, I’m on a break in
about half an hour. How about I come and mess with you then?”
“Yeah, sure. Come into my office,” Michael said
gesturing to the Crashdown kitchen, “when you get the time.”
“Done. Now go make me some Saturn Rings!”
“Yassah, boss.”
“Oh! I like! Keep that thought.” Maria sashayed out of
the breakroom into the dining room.
Isabel sought Michael out. She found him on shift. He was
massacring some burgers.
“Hey, you’re late,” said Michael, his smile fading
when he saw Isabel and not Maria. “Sorry. Hey, Iz. I thought you were…”
“Maria?”
“Yeah.” Michael flipped a burger. “You okay?”
“Just…I was worried, and I didn’t want to be
alone.”
“Sorry I can’t leave. My shift just started.” Michael
noted her paleness. She was nervous. “Look, you can hang here, okay? I have
to cook, but you can pull up a seat outside, and we’ll wait for Max
together.”
“What if Max doesn’t find anything out, or he does and
it’s what we thought?”
“Let’s not go there until we know something.” Michael
wasn’t ready to really face the reality of it.
“Oh god, Michael, I’m so scared.”
“You have Max, and you have me.”
“I don’t even know who you are anymore. I mean, are you
my brother or my mate?” Isabel asked. “I can’t forget that dream, can
you? You were so happy Michael. I’ve never seen you that happy.”
Michael shrugged. “Well, I’ve never been that happy
before.” He had little in his life to be happy about. Being part of a
family, belonging, that was a dream, one he feared might never come true. It
was a goal, something to work towards someday. Michael didn’t notice Maria
standing in the doorway. She overheard him and Isabel talking, and backed out,
leaving them alone.
“Is that what you want?”
Michael glanced at Isabel. “Honestly? I don’t know.”
“Well, what is this going to do to everyone else: You and
Maria, me and Alex?”
“Maria and me?” Michael frowned. What did this have to
do with his relationship with Maria. He couldn’t lose Maria. “Let’s not
think about that right now. I just want you to know that I’m not going to
let you go through this alone. It’s my baby too.” Michael didn’t know
how this was going to work, but he didn’t have much to give up. He
wouldn’t give up a child. Ever. “Maybe this is the way things are meant to
be. ‘K?”
~~~
Maria found Michael behind the Crashdown dumping garbage.
“Hey. Sorry I didn’t find you earlier.” Maria watched
him sigh deeply as he sat down the garbage can. “I came to find you. You and
Isabel were talking. I didn’t want to intrude.”
“Did you hear?” Michael asked. “What did you hear?”
“Mmmmm....something about an alien baby?” Maria
suggested.
“God, I can’t talk about that.”
Maria pursed her lips. “Okay, it’s just I’m a little
confused. I know I encouraged you to explore the possibilities, but…Jesus,
Michael! Um, kissing first…maybe a date! You went from dreaming about a kiss
to being a father in less than twenty-four hours!” Maria took his hands in
hers. “Honey, I know you’re in a hurry, but slow down, cowboy!”
“It’s not what you think.” Michael leaned against the
wall. “There was no kiss. Nothing. The whole thing was in a dream, and
Isabel thinks she’s pregnant.”
“And it’s yours?”
“Yeah.” Michael said his voice bleak. Maria covered her
face with her hands. Her whole body was shaking. Michael looked at her
confused, worried by her reaction. She was crying? “Maria? Jesus…”
Her laughter escaped. She wasn’t crying. She was
laughing.
“Maria?”
“Sorry!” Maria held up a hand. “I’m so sorry! I’m
not laughing at the situation, just the irony of it. God, Michael, you been
hoping, wanting something to happen to you forever, and this happens! Talk
about being careful about what you ask for, you know?”
Michael glanced at her. They were both leaning against the
wall, sharing a look. Suddenly, they both started laughing. Maria reached over
and pulled him into a big hug.
“It’ll be okay. Whatever happens, we’ll deal,
right?”
Michael kissed her on her forehead. “Thanks, Maria.”
“Can I call you Daddy?”
Michael leaned into her. “God, I hate you!” Michael
hugged her tight. She had a way of making him feel better. Her levity of the
situation helped to ease the tension that had coiled his body since that
dream.
“I know.” Maria kissed his cheek. “You’re not
alone, Michael. You and Isabel, if this happens to be true, you’re not
alone. You have all of us. We’ll help.”
“Thanks.” Michael pulled away, putting his head back,
leaning against the wall again. “There is this alien book that Tess had. It
has all our pictures, Maria. All of us. Tess isn’t Nasedo. She’s one of
us.”
“One of you? What does that mean?”
Michael scratched his eyebrow. “She suggests that we were
sent in pairs…engineered to be together. Me and Isabel, and Max with her.”
“What does that mean for Liz?”
Michael closed his eyes knowing that his wanting the book
to be true, to be a real lead to his past would hurt Maria’s friend.
“I’m not sure, Maria. It seems that we were engineered. The book has
pictures of us. They knew what we would look like.”
“Oh God, Michael. Liz…she’s…” Maria took a deep
breath, leaning against Michael. Glancing at him, she shook her head. “Damn,
I know you been looking for a meaning to your life, but damn, Michael! I never
thought it would some alien ‘Noah’s
“What do you mean?”
Maria shrugged. “Most of us wonder who we’re meant to
find. You basically had that problem taken away.”
“What about love?”
Maria looked at him. “Do aliens even have that?”
Michael leaned against the wall again. “Obviously, it’s
not that necessary. I can’t think about that right now. It’s taking all I
have worrying about Isabel.”
“How is she?”
“Scared.”
“Sixteen…pregnant with an alien baby by a guy who was
her brother a day ago. Yeah, I can see that.” Maria shook her head. “Damn,
you’re right. Your life sucks.”
Michael glanced at her. “What do you mean? Sucks
normally, or is this a new suck?”
Maria rolled her eyes. “Well, obviously, no sucking
necessary…I mean, excuse the pun, but you just procreated without any
procreation necessary…taking the only fun part out of the whole thing. Damn,
Michael, you just got left with all the hard stuff, with none of the perks.
Underage parent, no money, no real job, no education, a child, the expense,
the sleepless nights, dirty diapers, and endless bills. Least they could’ve
done is left you a little…begetting?”
Michael leaned his head back sighing. Maria was right. He
did get gypped again, but in truth, the thought of ‘begetting’ the regular
way…specifically with Isabel, that just freaked him enough to give him a
stomach ache. He really needed more than twenty-four hours to get over the ten
year idea that she was his sister…right now, she was still that, so the
thought was kind of sickening.
~~~
Alex located Isabel. He sat down next to her at the bar.
“So, I heard you have a situation.”
Isabel turned pink, embarrassed to be talking about this
with Alex. “Who told you?”
“Maria.”
“Maria knows?” Isabel said horrified. Michael must have
told her. Groaning, Isabel couldn’t imagine what their conversation had been
like. If it was her boyfriend looking at having a baby with another
woman…damn.
“Look, I just want you to know that if you’re having
trouble dealing with it, I’m here.” Alex’s jaw clenched.
“Alex, you have no idea what’s going on.”
“Does Michael love you?”
Isabel shut her eyes for a moment. She couldn’t answer
that. She knew he cared, but love? God. “It’s not that simple.”
“It should be.”
“Alex, would you stop!” Isabel begged. She was at her
wits end. “We’re not dealing with some troubled teen pregnancy, ok?
We’re talking about alien babies.”
“Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you think I’ve
known that from the start?” Alex looked at her. She only agreed to be his
girlfriend a day ago, and already, he was uncertain if it was over before it
began. “That if I decided to go forward with this that things might get
weird. Look, you said that you were ready for a relationship. Whatever’s
going on now, I know that you meant it. I know that it was real.”
“It was.” Isabel said softly to him. “It was real.”
“I’ll be here when you need me.”
~~~
“Here.” Maria put a glass in front of Isabel.
Isabel looked up at Maria, her face felt suddenly hot.
“Maria…”
“Okay, I know it looks gross, but you really should try
it.” Maria placed a bottle of
“What is it?”
“All natural, full of fiber and vitamins, extra folic
acid protein shake.” Maria leaned on the counter. “All the things needed
for a healthy baby.”
Isabel laughed softly. “You made this?”
“Yep.” Maria grimaced a little. “Of course, I’m not
sure how good it is. It might take a few different tries to find a good
recipe. I added extra kelp to help build your iron, and it’s a wonderful
source of iodine.”
“You didn’t have to do this, you know.”
“Not a problem.” Maria smiled gently at Isabel, feeling
for her predicament. “My mom was pregnant with me at fifteen. It wasn’t
easy. I already told Michael, but you should know too. You’re not alone. We
can handle this. I’m sure.”
“I didn’t think Michael would tell you.”
Maria made a snorting noise. “Oh, he tells me almost
everything.” Maria saw Isabel’s shocked reaction to that. “I know.
Strange. He didn’t at first, but I think that over the past few months, he
thinks of me as a sounding board, someone that listens and doesn’t judge.”
“You don’t judge?”
“Not really. I know when he’s wrong, and I tell him. I
do try to understand how he feels and where he’s coming from.”
“The baby…did he say?”
Maria bit the inside of her lip. She couldn’t tell Isabel
anything. “I can’t say. I don’t think even Michael knows himself.”
Maria leaned her head on her hand, her elbow on the counter. “I’m afraid I
made him laugh over it.”
“Laugh?”
“It’s just so ‘Noah’s
Isabel made a face. “You lost me. A gift? What are you
talking about?”
Maria shrugged. “Well, it’s all taken care of for you.
After all, we humans spend our entire youth wondering about love, that magical
time when you meet the ‘One’, or who we hope is the ‘One’.” Maria
got into her subject. “Think, no dating. No romantic courtship, which by the
way in Michael’s case, might be a godsend. No wondering, ‘does he
care?’, ‘does he really love me?’, and ‘will this last forever?’
Think about it, Isabel. All the mystery of falling in love, the mystery and
the anxiety is taken away. Pretty much, they told you who you’re with, and
it’s like this huge alien cosmic, no-brainer.”
“That’s a gift?”
“Sure. No risk. No broken hearts. No love. Just there. A
plan all laid out. They couldn’t have made it any simpler.”
Isabel stared at the drink. “No, they couldn’t have.”
Maria patted Isabel’s hand. “Well, you try that. I’ll
go work on a new concoction. Maybe a bedtime drink. Michael is still on shift.
He won’t be off for another hour or two.”
~~~
Michael came out from the kitchen placing a glass of milk
next to Maria’s grotty mixture.
“Here, calcium. Believe me, it will be better than
Maria’s brew.”
Isabel laughed to herself looking at the two drinks.
“Michael, this can’t be.”
“I know.” She was missing the point, just like Max.
They were aliens. It would probably get stranger before it got better. “But,
why not?”
Max walked into the Crashdown. He came over to Michael and
Isabel.
“Isabel, you’re not pregnant.”
Isabel breathed in easier, but she needed to be certain.
“Are you sure?”
“Tess says the dreams are just to guide us in our
destinies. She says the constellations have aligned and awakened our
biological drives but the usual methods still apply. You can’t get pregnant
from a dream.” Max looked at both Michael and Isabel. “This is good news
right?”
“Yeah,” said Isabel, glancing at Michael uncertain if
it was good news for him. He really wanted to belong to a real family.
“Really good news.” Michael said. “What about this
destiny thing? I mean are we still meant to pair up? You and Tess, me and
Isabel?”
“That’s our choice. Michael.”
Michael wasn’t sure about that. “I saw the book, Max,
I’m not sure we have much to say about it.” How could they know what was
programmed in them?
“We control our own lives. I won’t let any book tell me
what to do.”
Isabel sat back relieved. Her conversation with Maria hit
some sore spots. She had to agree with Max. She wanted it to be about love.
She wanted to decide who she loved, and when she was ready to have a
baby…she would like to choose the father of her child. “Well at least
it’s all over for now, right?”
“Yeah.” Michael made a face when he saw Maria coming in
from the back room. She was carrying a glass with a slight greenish tinge,
adding some milkshake mix to it. “Umm, I got someone to talk to.” Michael
shook his head. “Before she goes and milks a cow.” Michael hurried over to
Maria. “Hey, false alarm, no baby.”
Maria turned and leaned against the counter to look at him.
Great, who was going to drink this stuff? Maria sat the glass down. “Is
Isabel all right?”
“Yeah.”
Maria grabbed the front of his shirt. Pulling him towards
her a little, she lowered her voice. “How about you? Are you okay?”
“I…yeah.” Michael said. Then he looked at Maria, and
his body seemed to deflate. “Damn Maria. I can’t even get myself out of
bed to make it to class.” Michael ran a hand through his hair. “A
baby…at sixteen? I don’t know. I just don’t know.”
Maria put her hands on his waist resting her forehead on
his chest. “I’m sorry. I know that you’re looking for something. I hope
it wasn’t this, for your sake.”
Lifting her head off of him, he kissed her forehead,
resting against her. “Thanks.” He whispered.
Max looked over at Michael and Maria. He turned to Isabel.
“What, so everyone knows, even Liz?”
Maria heard that. She went over to Isabel and Max, with
Michael following her. “You didn’t tell Liz?”
Max frowned. “I haven’t seen her since this morning.”
“What are you talking about?” Maria’s mouth opened in
disbelief and horror. “You picked her up an hour ago. I saw you guys
leave.”
“I didn’t pick her up. I just got here.”
“Max, I saw you.”
~~~
Outside the Crashdown, they tried to decide what to do.
Maria was a mess. Michael could feel her shaking body.
“I can’t believe this.” Maria said against Michael.
He moved his hand up underneath her hair, cupping the back of her neck. “I
can’t believe Nasedo has her.”
Max paced a few steps. “We’ve got to find out where
they are.”
Alex couldn’t believe it. He ran his hand through his
hair, frustrated. “How are we going to do that?”
“We’ve got to go to Valenti.”
Michael couldn’t believe Max. “And tell him what? That
there are two of you? That there are two Max’s? The good one’s right here,
but please help us catch his evil twin.”
“Michael...,” Maria said against him softly.
Michael leaned down. “I’m sorry,” he whispered to
her.
“That’s not what he means.” Alex said defending Max,
whose only interest was to find Liz.
“Then what are we going to say?”
“I don’t care what we say.” Max told Michael.
“Liz’s life is at stake. Valenti is the only one with the resources. He
could put out an APB; he can contact other towns.”
Isabel swallowed hard. Fear, it was a constant companion
lately. “If we tell him, he’ll know everything.”
“I don’t care anymore.”
“You can’t make this decision by yourself, Max.”
Michael told Max, his anger holding his body stiff. “Not this time.”
“We all have to agree,” Isabel agreed with Michael.
They were exposed. Too many mistakes done on impulse.
“Since when?” Max asked, he looked at Michael.
“Weren’t you the one who went off with Topolsky by yourself? Liz’s life
is in danger, and suddenly we’ve got rules.”
“No, there’s always been rules: Tell no one.” Michael
couldn’t believe that Max would just conveniently forget he started all
this. “You’re the one who broke that. You’re not going to do that
again.”
Maria couldn’t take it. All this fighting over what? Her
friend was out there, in the hands of a murdering shapeshifter. They didn’t
have time for this. “Wait, wait, maybe we don’t.” Maria put a stalling
hand on Michael’s stomach, feeling his stiff body, ready to face off with
Max. “Ok look, as far as Valenti knows, there’s only one Max. That’s
you. So as far as he knows, you’ve taken Liz.”
Michael looked down at the blonde head resting on him.
“What are you saying, Maria?”
“I’ve got a plan.” Maria quickly outlined what she
had in mind.
Michael stopped her before she could go do her part. “You
sure about this?”
“Trust me.” Maria looked at him. “I trust you. I’m
trusting you to bring Liz home.”
“Maria,” Michael nodded. “I’ll bring her back. No
matter what it takes, I’ll bring her home to you.”
~~~
Maria and Alex sat in Valenti’s office. Alex was
sweating, but he hoped the Sheriff didn’t notice.
“What do you mean he’s taken Liz?”
Maria licked her lips. The Sheriff still made her nervous.
“Well, at first she wanted to go with him, thinking it was like a romantic
getaway.”
“Yeah, but then he started getting strange.” Alex
added, following the story Maria made up. “You know, at least that’s what
she said when she called us.”
“Yeah. She said that,” Maria cleared her throat, “…
that he was scaring her and that she wanted to go home but he wouldn’t let
her.”
“It’s like he’s kidnapped her or something.”
Maria allowed her natural nervousness come through to add
to the story, to make the Sheriff take her serious. “Sheriff, I’m really
scared. I mean, you know I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”
~~~
Michael came up fast behind Tess. Taking her arm, he
roughly dragged her away with him.
“Michael!”
“What’s going on?”
Tess did a little skipping step to keep up with Michael.
“What are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about.” Michael looked
down the street before crossing. “Nasedo has Liz.”
“I didn’t know!”
Tess actually stuttered.
“The hell you didn’t.” Michael’s jaw flexed. “You
want us to trust you, but how can we if you don’t tell us what you know.”
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
“Hey, Valenti is involved now.” Michael told her, still
not happy about Valenti. “If this thing goes the wrong way, he’ll know
everything, and that puts us all in danger, including you.” Michael stopped
at the jeep, literally tossing her inside. “Now, get in the jeep.”
“Michael, you don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“No, but you do, and that’s why you’re coming with
us.”
~~~
Maria’s plan worked. They followed Valenti to Max. They
were stopped by the new Deputy Fischer and given a warning. Along the way,
they found Valenti pulled over with agents from the Special Unit. Nasedo had
left them a dead body, an agent. Tess warned them not to stop, that the men
there were Special Unit agents. She had run from them her entire life.
Suddenly in the distance, the night sky lit up with the
alien symbol they had found in Fraser Woods during the camp-out. Nasedo was
sending a message. One for the head of the Special Unit, Pierce. He was using
Liz to bring Pierce to him, so he could kill him. They went after Liz,
uncertain that Nasedo wouldn’t hurt her too.
In the House of Mirrors, Max found Liz and Nasedo, but
glass separated them
They got Liz back, but at a cost. Max. The FBI had him.
Michael was quiet on the way home. Nasedo went after Max, but that didn’t
matter. Max was out there, and things were more messed up than before.
