Baby,
It’s You………
Max woke up to find himself sleeping at the observatory
with Tess in his arms. He stared down at her for a moment, his eyes dark and
unfathomable. Tess slowly woke to find him staring at her intently.
“Hey,” she said softly smiling.
“Hey,” Max responded watching her go back to sleep. A
while later, they woke again, and Max drove Tess home. It was late, very late.
Going into the house, they woke up Kyle who was sleeping on the sofa. He looked
up when they came in, but quickly laid back down.
“I guess I'll see you at school.” Tess said not able to
read his face or even guess what he was feeling.
“Yeah.”
Kyle glanced up again from his eavesdropping to see Max and
Tess kissing.
“Is everything ok?” Tess asked.
“Yeah … yeah great,” Max told her, his voice neither
reassuring nor convincing. They both jumped apart in surprise and guilt when Jim
suddenly appeared, obviously upset.
“Where the hell have you … ?” Jim demanded of Tess,
until he noticed who she was with. “Max!” Jim’s eyes moved over the two
teens seeing more than they liked as both of them pinked up in embarrassment.
“Go to your room.” Jim ordered Tess.
“Yes, sir,” Tess hurried off, not wanting to be on
Father Jim’s bad side. Vegas had been a learning experience.
“Sheriff …” Max began, but Jim was too tired from
staying up all night worried about his alien charge to deal with it now.
“Go home, Max.” He told the young man. “We'll talk
about this later.”
“Right,” Jim waited until Max left to turn around
seeing Kyle watching, awake on the sofa.
“Hey, Dad,” Kyle piped up. Jim groaned. God save him
from teenagers.
~~~
Tess was preparing to go to bed to get a few more hours of
sleep when she stared at herself in the mirror wondering if finally sleeping
with Max changed her. Was it apparent on her face that she just took a step in
life? Looking at herself in the full length mirror she felt something. Placing
her hands on her stomach, her mouth opened in wonder.
“Oh, my god!” She was pregnant.
~~~
Liz knocked on Maria's window. It took a few moments, but
Maria finally opened it. She stared at her friend in confusion.
“Liz, do you know what time it is?”
“I need to talk to you.” Liz begged desperately. Maria
nodded backing up to let Liz into her busy room.
Liz stopped when she noticed that Michael was in Maria’s
bed fast asleep. “Oh, God! I’m sorry! I should …”
“Stay right here, and tell me what’s going on.” Maria
suggested.
“Maybe we should go …” Liz gestured to the door.
“No. Here is good. We won’t wake Michael. He hasn’t
been sleeping. When he gets that look on his face, it would take a nuclear blast
exploding next to his ear to wake him, and even then he would just grumble
irritated, tell me to answer the damn phone, and roll over going back to
sleep.”
Liz shook her head. “You have a very strange relationship
with him.”
“Yeah, well, I do strange real well, and so does he.”
Maria turned on a light real low covering it with a red cloth to keep it from
being too bright and disturbing Michael. Both and Maria and Liz sank to the
floor to talk quietly together. They slowly went through the pictures that Liz
brought.
“Alex and his supposed girlfriend Leanna standing in
front of some building in
“Ok, I'm so creeped out right now.” Maria confessed
rubbing her arms. “So who's Leanna then?”
“You know she could be some girl that Alex never met, put
in these photos with him, just like the buildings.” Liz suggested.
“Or she could be an alien killer.” Maria said, her eyes
narrowing as she got into the investigation. Hmm. Alien killer … Topolsky had
been a Special Unit person. “So wait, if Alex never went to
“I don't know! That's what we’ve got to find out. I
can't do this by myself. I really need your help.”
“Mine and Michael’s,” Maria offered.
“No!” Liz glanced up at the bed making sure that
Michael was still asleep. “No aliens, Maria. I know Michael didn’t do it,
and I trust the others. I just don’t trust them to rationally look for the
evidence, especially if it looks like I’m right. Max … he turned against me,
and no matter what, he’s still their leader. I can’t let Max stop me, so I
can’t afford him finding out in any manner.”
“Michael wouldn’t tell, Liz. He could help us.” Maria
licked her lips nervously. Michael was right. If Liz was correct, then this was
dangerous, and the two of them … two defenseless human girls were no match for
a homicidal alien.
“Maria, swear to me that you won’t tell him. Or anyone.
Not until we have more proof.” Liz knew she was putting Maria into a hard
spot, but she had no choice. “I need irrefutable evidence, so even Max can’t
turn a blind eye.” Liz held Maria’s hand tightly. “It’s not just for
Alex, Maria. It’s for the aliens too. I think they’re in trouble, and
because Max refuses to admit it, they could be caught defenseless.”
Maria looked up at the bed, then at Liz. Reluctantly she
nodded, agreeing with her friend. She would do anything to keep Michael safe, to
make sure he survived to see his dreams of home realized. She loved him that
much … even if that dream took him away from her forever.
~~~
Max walked into the Evans kitchen to find Isabel up early
stretching before her early morning jog.
“Morning. You-you're going for a run?” Max asked the
obvious trying to find a way through the silence between them. “That must be
up to
Isabel then stopped her exercises, pulled a chair from the
table, slamming it down in front of Max, she sat glaring at him.
“Well, it's not easy to say, but uh, especially to my
sister, but uh, you know that Tess and I have been giving a long and kind of
cross and last night, we … things … something came up between us …
something happened.”
“You slept with her?!” Isabel said in anger. Oh, sure,
he can live his life any frickin’ way he saw fit, but the rest of them? A veil
was ripped from Isabel’s eyes. But then, he always did as he pleased … like
saving Liz Parker no matter how much danger he put them in. Bastard.
“Yeah.”
Isabel made a face of disinterest. “Wow. Congratulations,
Max. You lost your virginity.” Isabel unenthusiastically applauded.
“Is …”
“Oh gee, I'm sorry.” Isabel asked sarcastically, her
anger making her voice hard. “Were you looking for some sort of comfort or
sympathy before you went off and washed her dried sweat from your body? Or hey,
did you guys do it in the shower?”
Max couldn’t talk to her. “Forget it.” He went to
leave, more than willing to be out of his sister’s vitriolic personality.
“His Majesty will now retire to his room!”
“We didn't plan it, alright?” Max told her angry at her
attitude. “It just happened. I'm feeling a little weird about it right now and
… I'm just hoping …”
“You were wrong.” Isabel told him. She had no support
for him, because he had no support for her. “I don't care about your morning
after anxieties, or your delicate feelings, because my feelings sure as hell
don't matter to you!” Isabel stomped off leaving Max alone.
~~~
Tess was in front of the school pacing, waiting anxiously
for Max. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him finally.
“Hey.”
“Hey.” Max said stopping next to her, still a bit
uncomfortable with how far their relationship had progressed.
“Listen, I wanted to talk to you about something,” Tess
said almost desperate, not sure how to tell him about the pregnancy.
“Oh …”
“Yeah.”
Michael walked up to them as Maria rushed by, hurrying her
completed Alex project to the yearbook committee. She stopped long enough to
give Michael a thank you peck on his cheek, barely waving at the others.
“Yo.” Michael said to Max.
Max was undone. Acting a little hyper and off he greeted
Michael, “Hey, Michael.” Then remembering Tess wanted to talk, he tried to
tone it down. “Hey.”
“Hey?” Michael lifted a brow at the two, catching
something … off.
“Tess and I were actually just talking.” Max told
Michael as he glanced at Tess and nodded.
Michael caught the gist. Get lost. “Alright, later.”
“Great!” Max answered heartily, in false enthusiasm.
“Fantastic.” Michael walked off talking to himself.
You’d think he would be used to totally strange and bizarre occurrences since
he had spent the evening with DeLucas, but no. That was definitely different.
“We can talk about it tonight.” Tess told Max letting
him off the hook for now, especially since he seemed so … flustered by it all.
“Are you sure?” Max asked not happy with how he was
treating her, the morning after.
“Yeah. There's no rush.” Max and Tess looked over at
Michael, Isabel, and Kyle watching them.
“Max, if it's better for you to keep all this between the
two of us right now …” Tess offered.
“No, no it's not.” He wasn’t going to treat her like
she was something he was ashamed of. Max reached down and took Tess' hand in
his, intertwining their fingers. Tess smiled as they approach Michael, Isabel,
and Kyle, passing them.
Maria was walking up behind the group, having delivered her
project in overwhelming relief of a
job now done. As Max and Tess passed her, so obviously … together, her mouth
fell open. She kept walking not watching where she was going until she
accidentally bumped into Kyle. Michael reached out and straightened her, pulling
her away from the other boy.
“Okay, no one told me that the circus freak show was in
town,” Maria commented, her eyes still following Max and Tess as her arm went
around Michael’s waist.
“You have no idea,” Isabel said bitterly.
“Michael,” she continued, not taking her eyes off her brother as he walked
away. “I never thanked you properly for being against destiny and thinking it
was crap.” She stared at Max and Tess’s backs. “Thank you from the bottom
of my heart.”
~~~
Isabel was sitting alone on the bleachers at the football
field, staring at Alex's memorial, as Kyle suddenly sat down next to her.
“So, how do you feel about this whole Max and Tess
development?”
Isabel shrugged. “Well, I'm not speaking to my brother,
so if you have something you want to know, you'll have to ask him.” She
sighed, staring at what was left of a memory of Alex. “God, I hate this place,
do you think I have to just sit here and rot for the rest of my life?”
“You know what? You aliens are the most pathetic group of
people I’ve ever met.”
Isabel glared at him. “Goodbye, Kyle.”
Kyle started whining in a high annoying voice simpering for
Isabel, ‘Oh, we've got to keep our secret safe; we've got to be boring and
brooding’. If I had one tenth of your power …”
“What would you do?” Isabel asked, finding something
interesting for the first time in forever, or what felt like forever.
“I'd have fun!” Kyle proclaimed his eyes dancing full
of mischief. Isabel laughed at his antics and his enthusiasm. “You know, fun?
Enjoying myself, getting away from this whole doom and gloom thing you guys
wallow in, especially you lately.”
“Shut up.” Glancing at him, she smiled. “What's your
idea of fun?” Kyle laughed rubbing his hands gleefully. What wasn’t his idea
of fun?
~~~
Kyle pulled out an issue of Playboy from his ever growing
magazine collection.
Isabel put her hands up looking at the magazine with
apprehension. “I'm not touching
that.”
Kyle flipped through to a place he had earmarked from
constant … um, use. “Jody Ann Paterson likes long walks in the rain,
unicorns, and funny guys.”
Isabel glanced over his shoulder reading. “A playmate?
Are you serious?”
“Oh, man, she's not just some playmate, she's playmate of
the whole freakin' year!” Kyle informed Isabel with deference, not liking that
the girl had no respect for true talent.
“Mmm-hmm.”
“All right, are you sure it's going to work?” Kyle
asked not wanting his hopes dashed. Hell, he deserved this. He just had one of
the all time worst birthdays ever recorded in human history.
“Well, it has in the past, but of course that was a
life-and-death situation.” Isabel said thinking of how she took Liz with her
on the dreamwalk to find Max.
“Well, then I'll die happy.” Kyle had to stop rubbing
his hands joyfully, it was creeping Isabel out.
“Oh, good.” Isabel and Kyle touched Jody Ann's picture
in the magazine for the dream sequence as they showed up in the dream exercising
with her.
Kyle rode his exercise bike with vigor his eyes on the
prize. “Hey, make her dump her water on her top.”
“I'm gonna have to read Backlash twice after this!”
Isabel said in disgust. “Why don't you just go talk to her?”
“I can? Really?”
“Yeah.”
“This is … what do I say?”
“Talk to her about unicorns.” Isabel told him as Kyle
gave her two thumbs up and went to talk to the supermodel playmate of the year.
“Hey, Jody Ann...”
The woman didn’t spare Kyle a glance. “This is a
private gym.”
Kyle looked around and spotted cake. He reached over and
offered to feed the girl cake. She licked the leftovers off his fingers.
“Who are you?” She demanded.
“I'm the towel boy.” Kyle said with the award-winning
Valenti smile. “The showers are this way.”
Isabel ended the dream waking in disgust.
“Ohh!”
“No!” Kyle cried waking from the journey.
Isabel looked at Kyle in disgust. “Oh, this may come as a
surprise to you, but I really don't need to see that!”
“Well, then bring a book, let's go back.” He held the
magazine out to Isabel.
“No dice!”
Kyle tossed the magazine. “Oh well, that was good for me,
what can we do for you?”
“Have I mentioned that I hate my brother?”
“We can blow him up,” Kyle offered.
“You really have a sick little mind, don't you?” Isabel
was delightfully pleased.
“Isabel, Buddha teaches us that some of us are born with
stones and some of us are born with jewels, but the most fulfilled of us are
those who were born with stones and turn them into jewels.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Kyle sighed. Spiritually aware chicks were so hard to come
by. “You wanna get back at your brother, right?”
“Yes.”
“Ok, then bring your powers to the party and I'll
drive.”
“All right,” Isabel followed Kyle, and for once, she
felt like part of a Michael and Maria type team.
~~~
Maria worked on a computer to uncover an e-mail Alex sent
to her while on his trip to
While she waited for him to access things, she had a little
talk to herself. “I can’t tell him, I promised. But, if I don’t tell him,
he’ll be upset, think I am holding back on him. No. No. I promised Liz. This
is important. Okay. Okay then. I’m not going to tell him.” Maria nodded to
herself. Without thought, she took out her phone and called Michael’s number.
“Michael, hey, it’s me. I can’t tell you what I’m doing, but I need to
… well I should talk to you. Um, do you want to go for Mexican? My treat,”
Maria hung up. “Damn.”
The computer geek glanced up at the colorful girl in an
incredibly short skirt, killer legs, and lip gloss that made him blink. She was
… He just stared.
Maria noticed that he stopped typing. “I uh, I need you
to tell me exactly where this email is sent from.”
“You're Liz Parker's friend, right?” Derek asked.
“What? Why?”
“Talking to yourself, and wanting to know everything
about computers. Difference is that you’re … um, different. I wasn’t
sure.”
“Maria Deluca, it's really nice to meet you, so …”
She gestured to the email.
Derek looked at the email carefully. “Um, the origination
point has been encrypted.”
“Obviously,” Maria said sweetly putting her hands on
his shoulder and bending real close. “I-I need you to do your computer nerd
stuff and figure out exactly where this email came from.” She informed him
sweetly.
Derek cleared his throat nervously by the closeness of the
girl. Maria DeLuca. Wasn’t she Michael Guerin’s girl? She was … “Um, you
wouldn’t want to, um … you know … go out with me sometime?”
“Hmm...” Maria said appearing to give it some thought.
“Um, no. The email?”
“You're asking me to do something illegal.” He informed
her.
Confusion moved over Maria’s face as she tried to discern
his point. “And …?”
~~~
Max and Tess were sitting on a bench in a park talking
about the "truth".
Tess was concerned about him. “You seem quiet.”
“I'm not.” He denied.
“Max, this just isn't the time to feel you pulling away
from me.”
Max put his hand around Tess. “It's just … what
happened between us … it has all these … implications.” He looked at Tess.
“What did you want to say to me before?
“Oh, I don't know if it was such a good time.” If he
was having doubts, what she needed to tell him might not be something he could
stand to hear.
“That's okay.”
“Well, something sort of came up.”
Max frowned. “Came up?”
“I'm not sure how to say this.” Tess just went for it.
“I'm pregnant.”
~~~
While Maria was working over the computer angle, or at the
very least the computer geek, Liz was trying to find information that could
break the case. For that, she needed Tess. Ringing the Valenti doorbell, she
practiced what she was going to say.
“Liz.” Tess said in surprise.
“Hi, Tess.”
“So, are you here about me and Max?” Tess guessed.
“No, um, I … well, I wanted to talk to you,
actually,” Liz said. The last thing she wanted was to talk about Max and Tess.
She’d rather not think of them at all.
“Oh, sure.” Tess invited Liz inside.
“Um, I just um, you know I have questions about your
powers, mind control especially.”
Tess frowned her eyes suddenly bright. “What kind of
questions?”
“You know, um, anything that you can tell me, but um,
like …” Liz didn’t get to finish as Max came in through the door that Tess
had left open.
“Hey, your door's …” Max stopped when he saw Liz with
Tess. Liz. He was not very happy to see his ex-girlfriend. “What are you doing
here?” he asked coldly.
“Um, nothing, you know, we were just … we're
talking.” Liz informed him staring at his cold emotionless face. “I should
go.”
“Talking about what?” More Alex being alien, or did
Tess tell her about the baby?
“Nothing.”
“Max, you know, it's ok, forget about it.” Tess begged
not liking the energy between Max and Liz. The anger was shocking.
“No, I wanna know.” Max told Tess.
“We'll just talk later.” Liz told Tess.
“No, please don't go on my account.” Max insisted.
“Go ahead and ask your questions.”
“Max, she's just had a few questions about my powers,
that's all.”
“New theory?” Max sneered.
Liz’s face paled. “I just wanted to know some things
about mind control and I thought …”
“Oh, so Tess killed Alex. Is that your theory?” Max
demanded.
“No.” Liz said solemnly, suppressing a need to cry.
Tess saw how pale Liz was, small and vulnerable against the
tirade of Max. “Max, she didn't say that.”
“That's what you're thinking, why don't you just ask
it?!”
Liz shook her head denying it. “Max, of course that's not
what I'm thinking!”
“Tess, did you kill Alex?” Max demanded.
“Max...!” Tess pleaded for him to calm down.
“What were you doing on the night that he died?” Max
interrogated.
“Will you stop it?!” Liz yelled at him.
“Go ahead!” Max told Tess. “What were you doing?!”
“She was with me.” Kyle said quietly from the doorway
having heard the loud voices. “We were watching Gladiator on video.”
“An alibi. From one of your own,” Max said nastily to
Liz.
“Can I leave now?” Liz asked quietly her face pale and
blank of emotion.
“Yep,” Max told her not even flinching despite the
obvious betrayal in Liz’s eyes. Liz quickly left and Max shut the door.”
Kyle stared at the angry Max unable to believe he could
treat Liz so viciously. “Is everything ok?”
“Fine!” Max demanded turning away as Tess put her hands
on his shoulders that were still shaking in rage.
Tess nodded. “Yeah, yeah everything's fine, Kyle.”
~~~
Liz was on her balcony lying on a lounging chair when Maria
came in through the window. She was staring off across the way, her face blank.
Her whole life, all her dreams, they seemed so far away. Future Max was nothing
more than a dream because whatever was of that world, it had slipped away. Max,
her Max … the man she married was dead.
“Liz! Liz!” Maria called to her friend.
“What?” Liz’s voice lacked any emotion or life. She
was tired. So tired working hard for everyone’s survival, working for Alex,
and every step forward, she took two back.
“I was thinking to myself, right.” Maria said pushing
Liz’s legs aside to sit on the edge of the chaise. “How is it that Alex sent
these emails from
Liz sat up. “Are you telling me that Alex never left
“No, he … he did, he just … he didn't go far.”
Maria grabbed hold of Liz’s hands. “The emails were sent from a dorm room
from the
“
Maria searched her friend’s face. “Okay, you look
terrible. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Liz shook her head. “I can’t talk about
it.”
“Oh, no. You and me,” Maria made a gesture between
them. “We’ve been out of sorts lately, and I do not like! I love you, Liz. I
love you with all my heart, but you talk to me, or I will … I will take you
down. Lay you out!”
“Tough girl!” Liz said her eyes sparkling with mirth.
“You betcha, baby! I can take down the alien baddie! Mr.
Guerin, he is putty in my hands. So scootch.” Maria moved on to the lounge
with Liz lying back as Liz laid back on her. “So tell, Maria everything. Who
hurt you? I’ll get Michael to give them an itch in a place that can’t be
scratched.”
Liz was quiet lying on Maria, hugging her hard. She shook
her head. It was so good to feel Maria near again. She had been out there alone
for so long. Liz began to cry.
“Max,” Maria guessed. “Shh. It’s okay, you can tell
me.”
Maria waited and let Liz tell her in her own time, in her
own way. For the first time since the entire alien conspiracy spiraled in their
lives and altered it forever, Liz did not even try to excuse Max’s actions.
Maria answered her cell phone quickly when it rang. Liz was
asleep, and she didn’t want to take a chance on her waking.
“Hey. Do not bullshit me. Where are you?”
“Spacebum. Liz’s balcony. Come find me if you dare.”
Maria disconnected. She waited for ten minutes before Michael’s head came up
the fire ladder.
Michael stopped when he saw Maria with Liz, both of them
sharing a lounging chair. Liz was asleep, her face concentrating as if sleep was
all she could handle.
“She finally crashed, huh?”
“Yeah,” Maria looked at her friend. “You bring a
crowbar? Want to extract me?”
“Sure.” Michael lifted Liz a bit so Maria could slide
out. They put the sleeping girl back on the lounge in a more comfortable
position. Maria covered her with a throw, turning off the lights, but leaving on
the twinkle lights. Michael frowned. “Should we leave her there?”
“I don’t think it will rain. I’ll stop and tell Mr.
Parker that she’s out here. He’ll let her sleep and then take her inside.”
“I could …” Michael offered to carry Liz. It wasn’t
like she was huge or anything, and lately she looked even more diminutive than
usual.
“No. It’s best we don’t risk waking her. She needs
sleep more than anything.” Maria bit her lip. “Did you get my message?”
“Every incoherent line. I got the part where you’re
buying me dinner at Senior Chows, so all I want to know is what did you do or
are about to do that requires you to pay me off with dinner?” Michael asked
wisely. She chose Mexican, his favorite, so it had to be something he wouldn’t
approve of.
“Michael,” Maria grabbed him by the waist and rest her
head on his chest. She couldn’t do it. Liz needed her, and she couldn’t take
much in the way of betrayal right now. “Michael, I almost accepted a date from
a computer geek.”
Michael stepped back. “No.”
“Yeah. He wanted to explain technical journals to me and
everything.”
“Ewww! You want me to pound him in the ground?”
“Nah, he’s harmless, but I’m obviously suffering a
brain tumor. Do you think I need to see a doctor?”
“Oh sure,” Michael said leading her to Liz window so
they could find the Parkers. “Every day that I’ve known you.”
~~~
Liz and Maria were in a hurry. They had their bags packed
and escape velocity was hitting maximum. Maria was in more of a hurry than Liz.
She had a certain window of Michael avoidance before he suspected something.
“Got everything?” Maria asked.
“Hmm-hmm.” They opened the door to find Michael
standing in front of them.
“Michael.” Maria squeaked, her face looking guilty as
sin.
“Where are you going?” Michael asked his eyes
immediately going to the bags.
“
Michael’s eyes narrowed. Liz Parker was the world’s
worst liar, and Maria, she could lie a blue streak, but not to him. “What's in
“Uh, Alex's … grandmother, she couldn't make it to the
funeral and so they’re having a memorial service.”
“Right.” Michael held open the door. He all but told
Liz to scram. “Let me talk to Maria for a second, it's personal.”
“Ok, sure, uh …” Liz went through the door looking
back at the quiet Maria.
“You could take this.” Maria said handing Liz her bag.
“Yes, I'll...I’ll just be in the car.” Liz said
making eye contact with Maria.
“Okay.”
Liz exited as Michael entered the DeLuca house and closed
the door. “Where are you going?” He repeated.
“
“Maria,” Michael’s voice took on a firmness. “Where
are you going?”
“Michael...” Maria pleaded. She was in a terrible
situation, caught between her two best friends.
“Liz doesn't want us to know because she and Max are at
war,” Michael said knowing full well this was Liz’s doing, “so here's the
thing: I'm not going to tell Max, but I need to know, because if wherever you're
going turns out to be dangerous, I'm sure as hell gonna be there to protect
you.” Michael bent his head a little. “So, where are you going?”
“We're going to
Their eyes met, and Michael nodded. Friends. Maria had few
of them, and their number was getting smaller all the time now that Alex was
gone. He sighed. “First sign of danger - you contact me. Promise?” Maria
nodded her head smiling slightly at him. “Absolutely
promise?”
“Yes.” Maria promised crossing his heart with her hand.
Michael leaned down and kissed her before opening the door to let her go. He
watched them drive away.
~~~
At school Max and Michael were lining up for yearbooks.
“Liz and Maria aren't in school today.” Max observed suspicious that if
anyone knew where Maria was, it was Michael. If he knew where Maria was, then he
knew where Liz was as well.
“Yeah, I noticed.” Michael said signing for two
yearbooks, one for him and one for Maria.
“Have any idea where they are?” Max asked.
Unlike Liz and Maria, Michael had no problem lying,
“Nope.” He flipped to the picture pages. He couldn’t believe he let Maria
talk him into turning in an actual picture. He looked at the one she selected.
He looked … normal.
Max shook his head. “Like I don't have enough to deal
with already.”
Looking through yearbook pages, Max turned to the page
where his picture was located and saw that his class photo had been replaced
with a picture of an alien. “Look at this!” Max demanded.
Michael didn’t even glance at it. “Mine sucks, too. I
blame, Maria. Why did she choose that shirt?” Max and Michael glanced over at
Kyle and Isabel who were watching with giant smirks on their faces.
Michael lifted a brow at the two conspirators, and having been told the
nitty-gritty on the Max and Liz latest fight, he glanced at his friend. “So,
what else are you dealing with?”
“I’ve got to get outta here.” Max said.
“Let’s play some B-ball.” Michael suggested. He could
use the exercise. Max shrugged. It would be nice to just let go for a while and
play a game.
Michael took the ball out. “So are you going to tell me
what is going on with you?”
Max tried to block Michael and he went around and sank the
ball. “Just stuff, you know?”
“Relationship stuff,” Michael guessed.
Max bent over, breathing hard as Michael tossed the ball to
him. “Well, Tess and I are sort of …”
“Yeah, I know.” Michael watched as Max made a shot from
the free throw line. It swooshed the hoop. He caught the return and tossed it
back to Max.
“The thing is the other night, things between us kind of
… advanced.”
Michael stopped playing, his eyes narrowed. “How far did
they advance?”
Max went over and sat down on the bench taking a towel and
wiping off. “I would say they advanced just about as far as possible.”
“You and Tess actually had …” Michael paused. Maybe
he didn’t want to know.
“Hot alien sex, yes.”
Michael made a face. Okay, so maybe he did want to know.
“How was it?”
“Well, it's probably a lot like human sex. Except the
point of culmination.”
Michael made another face. His ‘What the fuck you talking
about?’ face. “The point of what?”
“You kinda feel like you're floating and this … this
hot electric energy courses through your body.”
“How long does that last?”
“About an hour,”
Michael made a remark under his breath. Great, overkill. A
ten minute orgasm would be incredibly sufficient for most people … there was a
reason the French call it the ‘little death.’ An hour? After the initial
rush, exactly what was the point unless it came with this drug euphoria?
Max interrupted Michael’s thoughts. “The thing is,
there's been a complication.”
“What?” Michael slid a little away from Max. “Alien
herpes?”
“No, nothing like that.”
Michael breathed a sign of relief. Hey, he gets infected it
better come with some rewards. “Whoa, clearly, you didn't have any performance
problems, and other than getting Tess pregnant, which you're too smart to do,
what else could there be?”
Max just looked at Michael.
Michael’s mouth opened in shock. “You got Tess pregnant?
Holy crap!”
“She says it's growing fast. Nasedo said alien
pregnancies take about a month.”
“What's inside her?” Michael asked, not taking the
information as good news. “I mean, is it human? Is it alien?”
“Well, we can't exactly go get a sonogram.”
“You're actually going to go through with this?”
Michael couldn’t see this as a good thing. A teenage pregnancy was never a
good thing, but an alien one?
“I don't know if I have any choice here. This is out of
my hands. I can't tell Tess what to do!”
Michael made a snorting noise. Since when? He told everyone
else what to do. “Why not? You're the king.”
“Which makes her the queen.”
Michael needed Max to think about this … to really think.
“Maxwell, if this thing comes out green with four fingers and three eyes,
that puts a major cramp in our hide-in-plain-sight strategy.”
“So, what are you suggesting?”
“I'm suggesting you point out to Tess how this could
screw up our lives … forever. She's gotta know - this affects all of us!”
“I don’t know that I can do that.”
“Why the hell not?! You can tell Liz not to investigate
because it will ‘expose’ us and she has a responsibility to us. You tell
Isabel she can’t leave
Michael stood up and grabbed his stuff. “You’ve been
exposing us for years at your whim, and this is just a bunch of the same old-
same old crap.” He picked up his bag. “You know, you won’t even listen to
Liz. You hurt her. Treat her like she’s the threat, but what if she’s right?
Something is not right here. I knew Alex, and there wasn’t a suicidal bone in
his body. He loved life. He loved his life, his friends, his parents, and his
music. As far as I could see, he had everything to live for and nothing to lose.
I can accept an accident, but never suicide. So why aren’t we asking the
questions?”
“Alex was not murdered.”
“Yeah, you keep saying that, and while you’re chanting
it, keeping your head buried so far up you ass, like you always do … take a
look around and see if you can find yourself, Max. My friend would’ve never
treated Liz like this, and he sure as hell wouldn’t have slept with anyone but
her. You keep trying to create the perfect illusion of a perfect world, but I
suggest you look for pods, because I swear someone bodysnatched you.”
Michael started to leave.
“Where are you going?”
“To find Maria,” Michael snapped, not bothering to tell
him where. “She usually gets in trouble if I leave her alone too long.”
Max sat there as Michael stomped off, all alone. All he had
now was Tess.
~~~
At the University in
“Probably empty,” Maria guessed. They must not have
placed a new student there.
“Nothing.” Liz said shutting another empty drawer. They
kept searching until a student came by.
“Excuse me?” The student called to them. “Can I help
you with anything?”
“Uh, yeah, um, actually we are looking for a friend who
stayed in this room for a while.” Liz told the student.
“Ray.”
Maria tilted her head. “Ray?”
Liz nodded quickly. “Yes, Ray.”
“He was here for a couple of months; hardly said a word;
very weird guy.”
“Did he see what he was doing here and maybe like why he
came in the middle of the semester and all?” Maria asked.
The student shook his head. “You don't understand. Ray
never left the room. The only time he opened the door was when they delivered
his Thai food.”
Liz stood up straighter. “Thai food?”
“Breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. Food fetish, if
you ask me.”
Maria held up a hand. “So, wait, you mean he literally
never left the dorm?”
“Well, at least not in the daytime.” The student
confirmed. “There was this one night I was out partying. I came back pretty
late. I saw him coming out of the Litvack building. It was, like,
Maria frowned biting on a nail. “Yeah, sounds it.”
Alex, what had he gotten into?
“So what's in the Litvack building?” Liz asked.
“Computers. I mean I'm not really into that kind of
stuff, but apparently the University has this incredible super computer.”
~~~
Inside the pod chamber, Max and Tess looked for information
they had about their past lives.
“What are we doing here?” Tess asked looking around the
old pod chamber.
“This is everything we have from where we come from.”
Max took the alien book and flipped through it. “This book … if we knew how
to read it, it would probably have all the answers for us.”
“What answers are we looking for?”
“I guess answers about what exactly we're getting
ourselves into.” Max admitted. “Tess, this is my child, too and I fully
accept that, but I also want you to know that this is your decision and I will
respect whatever you decide …” It was a good thing neither Isabel nor
Michael was there. They both would’ve mutinied over him giving Tess the right
to decide the fate of her own body and life.
“Max, I'm having this baby.”
“Okay.” Max put the book away and stood up.
“Thanks for the support,” Tess told him looking up at
him.
“I said I would stand by you.”
Tess face altered for a moment, going not anger, but
resigned. “Don't sound so excited about it.”
“Hey, my entire life changed overnight and I think I'm
entitled to get a little freaked!”
“And I'm not? Don't you think I'm a little flipped out by
this whole …?”
Max didn’t want to argue with her too. “That's not what
I meant, I …”
Tess started to feel pain. She doubled over. “Max.”
Max went to her quickly, his arms supporting her as she
sat. “What is it?”
“The baby.”
Max pulled up Tess' shirt and saw the red handprint glowing
from inside Tess' stomach. He put his hand over it. In flashes, increased
respiratory rate, Max started to hyperventilate.
Tess watched him, her eyes worried. “Max?”
“I … saw the baby. It's a boy.”
~~~
At
“Hey. Me. Listen, this is like the sixth time or so.
We’re onto something, and I think you need to be here. It’s getting majorly
creepy.” Liz pulled on Maria’s arm. “Gotta go. Find me. And Spaceboy,
could you bring my leather mini that I left at your place? There are some
seriously hot boys on this campus.”
“Maria!” Liz said trying to get Maria off the phone.
“We’re investigating!” Sighing, Maria hung up wondering where Michael was.
“We're so close, Maria. We're so close to figuring this all out.”
“I hope so.”
Liz and Maria both stopped in their tracks when they heard
a familiar voice coming from an all campus party and the bandstand. They turned
towards Nelly Furtado who began performing her song “I’m Like A Bird” as
Maria hung on Liz in excitement.
“Oh my god, it's Nelly Furtado.” Maria exclaimed.
“Please, one, one song?”
Liz was excited too. “Okay, one song.”
“Ok, okay.”
Maria and Liz rushed over to join in the crowd for just one
song by Nelly Furtado. Maria was mouthing the words and dancing to the music,
excitement and color giving her a vibrant look. Liz smiled at her friend before
looking around in the crowd. Her smile faded as she saw Leanna … Alex's
‘Swedish babe’ grooving to the music about 30 feet away.
Liz took Maria’s arm to get her attention. “Oh, my
gosh. Maria, that's her! That's the girl with the blond hair, that's Leanna,
that's her!”
Maria shook her head. “Wait a minute, no way, no way.
Let's see.” Maria and Liz looked at Leanna's picture to make sure. The girl
must’ve sensed their interest, Leanna stared back at them.
“That's totally her. It's the girl from
“We have to go talk to her.” Liz said ready to go over
and talk to the girl.
“N-n-nooo, this is getting too dangerous.” Maria told
Liz. “We have to call Michael …”
“She's leaving, we gotta go get her.” Liz insisted.
“Come on, come on.”
Left with no options, Maria ran after Liz. They cleared the
crowds and stood on the roadside searching for the girl. Maria and Liz started
to run as they saw Leanna on the street.
“Right there.” Liz said pointing to the other girl.
They started to chase after Leanna, but unfortunately they
weren't fast enough when they tried to get across the street. Maria yelped as a
car almost hit her. She and Liz hurried to the other side of the street under a
blast of loud horns. As a bus passed by, Leanna disappeared. The two girls
looked around helplessly as they lost their prey. Suddenly, a hand grabbed Liz's
shoulder. It was Michael.
“I wanna know everything.” he told Liz, his eyes
wandering to Maria. He pointed a finger at Liz, “You, tell me everything, and
you,” he pointed at Maria, “big trouble!” She gulped when she read the
look in his eyes. It was his, ‘Lucy, you have some ‘splaining to do…’
look. Dammit, this was so not her fault!
~~~
Michael, Maria and Liz got rooms for the night. They paid
for two large bedrooms with a connecting door. Both rooms had a king size bed.
They left the door open between the two as they sat on the large bed with all
the information that Liz and Maria had gathered between them.
Michael went through it all, piece by piece, quietly
listening to the two girls. He was surprisingly silent, but Maria could feel his
attention. They ate food they ordered as the three of them talked about what
they should do the next day. Finally, the lack of sleep caught up on Liz. She
was running on nothing but bad pizza and fumes.
“I’ve gotta go to bed.” Liz went to go to the other
room, she paused looking at Maria. “Maria?”
“I …” Maria glanced at Michael. “Give me a
moment,” she told Michael. Following Liz, she closed the door slightly.
“Look, I think you need rest. I’ll stay with Michael.”
Liz had expected that. “I know, Maria. It’s okay. You
finish explaining everything to him. Make sure he gets it.” Liz looked over at
Michael on the bed reading. “I know you two like to be alone.”
“No. It’s nothing like that, or anything. Just …”
Maria cleared her throat. “Since Alex … well, since Alex, I … Michael, if
he’s there I sleep better. That’s all.”
“It’s okay, Maria. I’ll talk to you in the
morning.”
Maria closed the door between the two rooms softly, resting
her hand on the door.
“You okay?” Michael asked.
“Yeah. Getting better,” Maria went to rejoin him on the
bed as he kept going through the photos and evidence. “It’s been so hard to
be so far out of sorts with Liz, especially with Alex gone.”
“I told you to call me. You promised.”
“I did. Check your machine. I left message after
message.”
“I was on my way here.” Michael lay back on the bed. He
was warm, he was full, and he knew where the hell Maria was. Life was pretty
good. Add in the fact that Max’s life was for crap, and for once his was
looking pretty good in comparison.
“So what happened to get you here?”
Michael shrugged. “They passed out yearbooks today. I
picked yours up, and the Alex memorial pages look good.”
“Really?” Maria smiled.
“They do. My picture was whacked.”
“Oh, do not start on me. That shirt was excellent. You
looked sexier than hell in it.” Maria reassured him.
“Great. Now you want me to model men’s clothes?”
Maria hit him on the stomach. “Hey! We get you to
exercise more, lay off the pizza and burgers, and you could make money. I’ll
put you in on the list for when we move to