To
Serve and Protect……
Max and Isabel were bored, sitting at home and flipping
through channels.
“There’s nothing on.” Isabel complained.
“We must have fifty channels.” Max observed as he
surfed through them all, channel by channel.
“Crap … crap...”
“Uh-huh.”
“Boring.” Isabel complained.
“Uh-huh.”
“I’m going to take a stroll; see what people are
dreaming.” Isabel told her brother getting up to go to her room.
“Haven’t you been overdoing that lately?” Max asked,
suspecting that she may have visited him a few times too.
“Take it easy. It’s harmless.”
“It’s just not a very nice thing to do.” Isabel
shrugged, leaving Max with his convenient morals as he yelled after her. “And
stay away from Liz, please!” He went back to his channel surfing muttering,
“Crap … crap … crap …”
Isabel sat on her bed looking through her yearbook. She
stopped at Liz’s picture. Normally she wouldn’t invade Liz’s dreams,
afraid of seeing something disgusting involving her brother, but since Max
mentioned it... Isabel smiled lying back as she touched Liz’s picture.
She entered Liz’s dream at the Crashdown. A young man
entered.
“Hello, Liz.” Hmm, beefcake.
“Hello, Braaad.” Liz said in a sappy sugary voice as
Brad lifted her up to set her on the counter. Liz lay down looking at him
seductively. “Would you like fries with that?” Isabel made a face rolling
her eyes at the comically quasi sensual voice. She lifted an eyebrow
appraisingly when Brad and Liz started kissing and then suddenly Max showed up
behind the counter.
Liz looked up at Max somewhat insolently. “I’m with
Brad now,” she told him in her little squeaky voice topped by a pout.
“Brad doesn’t even exist.” Max told her. “Besides,
you want someone who can do this.” Max gestured toward the ceiling and rose
petals started to fall as Liz left Brad and started kissing Max.
“Oh my!” Liz moaned dramatically with her hand on her
breasts.
Isabel came out of her dream state disgusted, and severely
icked by the sappy dream. “Even her romantic dreams are boring.”
Isabel went back to the yearbook and smiled when she saw a
picture of Maria. Oh, like she hadn’t already looked into that headcase’s
dreams. Shrugging, she touched Maria’s picture to see what was going on. Maria
was flipping through a magazine. She didn’t bother to look up as Isabel
invaded her dream.
“Get out, Iz or I’ll cause you more damage than you can
even imagine. I’m thinking of your dad wearing your mom’s underwear and her
with a bullwhip.”
Isabel gasped herself awake. Bitch. She didn’t bother
with Max whom she knew was awake, and no sane human would even want to risk a glance at Michael’s dreams. Alex was too risky, and
after what happened between them, she just couldn’t. She looked through the
yearbook again and stopped on Kyle.
“Kyle’s got to be more interesting than Liz and not as
bitchy as Maria.”
In Kyle’s dream, he was on a mountaintop seated in a
Lotus position at Buddha’s feet.
“Remember Young Blossom, my most important words.”
“Yes, Master.” Kyle said bowing in deference.
“To thine own self be true.”
“It’s Shakespeare.” Isabel pointed out.
“With every inhale find the center of yourself. With
every exhale release the ties that bind your energy. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale …
Buddha was interrupted by a cell phone beeping. “Excuse me,” he told his
favorite disciple. “Buddha here. Yeah. When? Prepare the ship. Standby to beam
us aboard.”
“Master?” Kyle said in confusion.
“Our enemies have arrived, Kyle. We must leave Earth and
face the dark legion.”
“No, no, no, no.” Kyle said with some distress.
“I’m here for inner peace, not that science fiction crap.”
“Max Evans changed you when he saved your life. You know
that. You’re an alien now, Kyle.” Buddha shook a scolding finger at Kyle.
“Dude, like, accept your destiny.”
“No, I’m not!” Kyle screamed as he looked down and
his hand became green and slimy. “Ahhhhh!”
Before Isabel could exit Kyle’s alien driven nightmare
the dream changed. She was in a dark forest with flashes of lights.
“Where am I?” Isabel circles around in the dream, in
the dark … confused. “Kyle, whose dream is this?”
Isabel gasped as she saw a man dragging a screaming girl in
a black plastic bag. Pushed out of the dream in fear, Isabel woke up in a panic
her hand going to her heaving breasts.
~~~
Jim was enjoying his third cup of the worst coffee that the
Roswell PD had to offer when he heard a voice outside his office.
“Excuse me. I’m looking for a broken-down, old,
war-horse somehow managed to make Sheriff of Roswell, New Mexico.”
Jim smiled. “Hansen,” he called to his deputy, “send
that sanctimonious paper-pusher in here before I have him arrested for
vagrancy.”
He stood up smiling when a man around his age came through
the door with his hand outstretched. They shook hands sociably.
“Damn son, you’re gettin’ old!” the man commented.
Though he and Jim were the same age, Jim’s face had more lines lacking the
polished look of the other man.
“Real police work will do that to you, Dan. You should
try it some time.”
“Now, that hurts.” Dan Lubetkin took a seat across from
Jim’s desk. “Long time, Jimbo.”
“Too long.” Jim agreed as he took his seat again.
“So, I take it this isn’t a social call.”
“The State Police Board wants to review the Hubble
shooting.”
“Hubble?” Jim breathed in deeply looking at his friend
from police academy who long ago went into the administrative part of law
enforcement. “Well, it’s an open and shut case. Crazy old man with a gun in
the desert.” Jim shrugged, but his eyes were serious and careful. “It was
over a year ago. Why investigate that?”
“Wheels of justice grind slowly.” Dan answered, his
eyes equally careful as he watched his friend.
“Do I need a lawyer?”
“Whoa, easy, no need to get all riled up now.” Dan said
holding up his hands.
“That was a clean shoot, Dan.”
“If you say so,” Dan glanced at Jim’s coffee cup.
“You got any more of that stuff?”
“It’s real cop coffee; it might burn a hole in your
stomach.”
“I think I can handle it.”
~~~
At the Crashdown Tess was having breakfast with Kyle who
was still obsessing over becoming alien. Ever since Ava had told Liz that she
was changed, Kyle had spent hours taking account of his own physical body,
horrified at the thought he might actually have a lifetime connection to Max
Evans. He glanced at Tess as she poured
“That’s very alien, isn’t it? The very sweet, very
spicy thing?”
“Uh-huh.”
Kyle frowned. “Can I try a bite?”
“You won’t like it.” Tess warned him.
“Oh, I hope not.” Kyle took his fork and tasted the
overly sweet pancakes laced with
“I told you.”
“No, no, no.” Kyle said waving off her warning.
“It’s not completely horrible. It’s almost tasty.”
“Oh. Well, here. Have some more.” Tess said offering
him her plate.
“No, no, I can’t. This is so wrong. I’m not ready for
this.”
“Not ready for what?” Tess asked him confused by his
reaction.
“For the change. Not ready to be, like, a half-human,
half-alien freakazoid.”
“Uh, we prefer the term ‘hybrids’.” Tess told him
testily slightly miffed at the slam to her alienkind.
“I’m serious. Look, I never bargained for this. One
minute I’m a normal guy with my whole life ahead of me the next thing I know,
Max Evans transmogrifies me into something not-of-this-Earth.”
“Whoa, whoa, trans-what?”
“Look, I never asked for this.”
“Well, I suppose he could have let you die.” Tess
pointed out. “Is that what you want?”
“If I had died, I would have transcended the mortal plane
and been reincarnated into the next stage of my life.”
Tess shook her head. He was deranged. “Reincarnated as
what, exactly?”
“Like, just another person or animal, maybe.”
“An animal?” Tess laughed. “Like, you could have
ended up a gopher or something!”
“Look, we’re getting off the point. I really need some
help.”
“What do you want from me? I don’t know what’s going
to happen to you. You know, maybe nothing will happen. Or maybe you could
develop superpowers and start flying all over
“Could I have another …”
“No!” Tess said pulling her plate away from him. Alien
freakazoid … indeed!
~~~
Isabel and Max took their concerns to Sheriff Valenti
unsure how else to deal with the dreams.
“Alright, let me get this straight. You can go into
people’s dreams?”
“Yes. But usually I choose whose dreams I go into.”
Isabel informed him leaving out the few dreams of his she invaded. “This one
just came to me.”
“Well, how do you know this was real, not just
somebody’s nightmare you stumbled into?”
“I don’t know, but it felt real. She needs help.”
Isabel pleaded in earnest.
“Sheriff, when Tess was being tortured Isabel got flashes
from her, and that’s how she knew Tess was in danger.” Max explained to the
Sheriff. “That’s how we saved her life. We should check into this.”
“It’s a little hard to look for a missing girl without
a name or a face.” Jim tried to explain to them. He paused when there was
knock on his door and Dan stuck his head inside.
“Hey, Senor Chows for lunch?” Dan asked.
“Yeah, that’d be fine.” Jim said noticing how Dan was
staring at Max and Isabel in interest.
“Hi.” Dan said to Max.
“Hi.” Max replied uncertain who the man was.
“I’ll see you at
“Who was that?” Max asked as the door shut behind the
man.
“He’s from the State Police Board.” Jim told the
teens. “He’s reviewing the Hubble case.”
“Hubble?” Max squeaked, sitting up straighter.
“It’s no big deal. Dan’s an old friend.” Jim stood
up. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll look into it, okay?”
“Thank you.” Isabel pulled Max unceremoniously out of
the Sheriff’s office with her. Jim watched them go, rubbing the back of his
neck. He would investigate. Shaking his head he looked at the time to see how
long he had until he had to meet Dan.
~~~
Dan and Valenti were having lunch at Senor Chows. Jim
talked about the Hubble case as they ate.
“When I ordered him to put his weapon down, he uh … he
refused, brought the gun up. I felt my life was in imminent danger, so I
fired.”
“Hmm, just like it says in your report.” Dan signaled a
waiter. “Uh, could we have more of these sweet and sour tortillas?” The
waiter nodded and went off to get them as Dan smiled at Jim. “They’re good.
Different, but good. So, uh, who were those kids in your office this morning?”
“Nobody.” Jim lied, immediately suspicious of anyone
that took an interest in the alien children. “Stolen bike.”
“Hmm, what were their names again?”
“Max and Isabel Evans.”
“Max Evans … hmm, I got a statement here says that
Hubble was last seen in a car with Max Evans, before the shooting.”
“Whose statement?” Jim asked, his alert level going up.
Dan ignored the question. “Was Max Evans there that
night?”
“No.”
“Okay Jim, that’s all I need to hear.” Dan said
smiling when the waiter returned with the tortillas.
~~~
Liz was serving customers. “Okay, Umm, we have a Saturn
Rings and a Galaxy Sub, hold the Max.” Liz looked at Maria as she realized her
mistake. “Okay, so I’ll be right back with the Cokes.”
Maria pulled Liz aside. “Okay, what just happened?”
“I need help. I’m sick, okay?” Liz wailed, grabbing
Maria desperately. “I am an obsessed person.”
“Okay, is this a general freakout or should I be
concerned?”
“No, I have Max on my brain 24 hours a day. Okay, I dream
about him, I think about him, and now I’m saying his friggin’ name without
even realizing it.” Liz held onto Maria tight. “What am I going to do?”
“You’re in love that’s all.” Maria told her friend.
It was to be expected.
“I know, but it’s not getting me anywhere.”
Maria was quiet for a moment, sighing deeply she looked at
her friend. Nodding, she led Liz into the backroom. “Where exactly did you
expect it to get you?”
“What?”
“You said that being in love with Max isn’t getting you
anywhere. So where did you expect it to get you?”
“I … I really don’t know. Happy?”
“How can that happen, Liz? Future Max told you that you
and Max were too obsessed and self-absorbed, that you weren’t prepared when
their enemies came, and they needed Tess.”
“Maybe that isn’t true anymore.” Liz told Maria. “I
mean Tess was here when the Skins came, she blew them to dust, and … and maybe
now it is over and Max and I can be together.”
Maria nodded. Okay. “Did Future Max tell you that? Did he
tell you that it was the Skins? I mean you just dumped him and a few weeks later
Tess takes out the Skins. Do you think in the last timeline it was merely weeks?
When exactly did these enemies come, and who were they? Didn’t he say that
when their enemies came Tess was gone, and she was gone because the two of you
were married? That implies that Tess didn’t leave until after you married, and
the enemies that threaten the world don’t show up until after she leave.”
“I don’t know.” Liz bit her lip. “He didn’t
say.”
“Oh!” Maria nodded. Typical. “So he tells you about
your great love, your great marriage, and your great life together except for
that one pesky thing … oh let me see? Oh yeah! The world ends! Right. But he
couldn’t tell you who, where, why, how and when? He couldn’t tell you
anything to prepare you in case this didn’t work, and it still happens, but
just not exactly the way it did last time?”
“Okay. He didn’t tell me anything …”
“Useful. Only things that hurt you.” Maria made Liz
look outside into the Café. “What has changed? Really? I mean you still want
Max, you hate that he is only a friend now, and you are obsessing how to get him
back in your life. What has changed?”
“Tess is still here.”
“True, but they aren’t together. And we don’t know
that the danger that threatens the world is here yet. What if it doesn’t show
up for another ten years? So you and Max getting back together …”
“Would result in the same future,” Liz concluded. She
looked at her friend, her eyes pleading. “What should I do? You’ve got to
help me, Maria. Tell me what to do?”
“I can’t. If Future Max had given us even a hint of
when it happened or with whom, at least we would know when the danger was beyond
us … and then maybe you could be with Max. So now we have no idea, and that
means that you … Liz, you have to decide if your want and need to be with Max
is more important that the world, or the possibility of the world ending.”
Liz covered her eyes. “This isn’t fair. This can’t be
on me!”
“It should’ve never been. Max did that. Future Max. But
we can’t go back. Your obsession is your obsession, and love is love. If you
decide you can’t live without Max, that nothing except being with him is
important, then there it is. You roll the dice. You take a chance with your
life, our lives, and his. The future, Liz … it is now undetermined, and all
you can do is make the best decisions with the knowledge you have.”
“And if I choose wrong?” Liz asked quietly.
“Then you choose wrong. All you have is a possibility, a
foresight of what might be. Nothing more. People make decisions every day, and
some of them are wrong … some very wrong, but they didn’t know how wrong it
was until after it was too late. You are merely cursed with foreknowledge.”
“I hate this. I hate that I can’t … that I don’t
want …” Liz covered her eyes breathing in deep.
“Okay relax, relax, Liz. It’s not that bad. I
promise.” Maria noticed Mr. Parker looking around. She quickly pushed Liz back
into the Café joining her behind the bar pretending to fill glasses. “So
you’re a little obsessed. It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad? Really? Why don’t you look at this?”
Liz pulled out two pictures of Max from her apron pockets. “See! Obsession,
obsession, obsession, obsession!”
“Okay, okay, you’re a Max-aholic.” Maria conceded the
point. Liz was officially a basket case. “I’m here for you. What can I
do?”
“Get me a life.” Liz begged. Anything to take her mind
of her Max problems. At that moment a young man entered the Crashdown.
“Oh, you gotta be kidding me.” Maria was not pleased.
“When did you get out?”
“This morning,” Sean DeLuca informed his colorful
cousin.
Maria’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You didn’t break
out did you?”
“I got a release. Good behavior.” Sean’s eyes
wandered over his cousin, and then the girl standing next to her gaping at him.
“That’s a first.” Maria said sarcastically. “You
don’t think that you’re going to stay with us do you?”
“Oh, uh, Aunt Amy already gave it the thumbs up.” Sean
happily told his cousin, enjoying her look of disgust.
“She is such a soft touch, isn’t she?” Maria said
bitterly.
Sean ignored his cousin for the girl next to her. He loaded
on the DeLuca charm, charm that unfortunately had missed his sour cousin. “Hi,
Liz.”
“Hey, Sean,” Liz said with a shellshocked look on her
face.
“All grown up. Like it.” Sean commented winking at his
cousin on his way out. “I’ll see you at home.”
“It’s not your home!” Maria yelled at him, her body
stiff.
Michael, who had been cooking came to the order window at
the obvious sounds of a distressed Maria. He frowned out over the slow Café
searching for whatever was the source of Maria’s displeasure. Hey, no one had
the right to upset the DeLuca … no one but him. He had first dibs.
“Michael! Oh my god, Michael!” Maria was so upset she
rambled and Michael only caught every few words in a long rant. It sounded
almost garbled like a long distance communication … one from Planet Maria.
“Sean … cousin … that no good juvenile delinquent … he stole my home,
and … I can’t … he is a … he … I … I can’t breathe!” Maria took
large calming breaths.
“Okay, your cousin, Sean is in town. He is staying with
you and your mom. He has a history, one that led him to juvie, and now he’s
back. He upsets you.” Michael concluded.
“You’re good!” Liz said in awe.
Maria reached over and kissed him on the lips quickly.
“Exactly. I knew I could count on you to understand how horrible this is! I,
oh god! I really need to go! I need to go count the silver, double check
everything, and label my stuff so Sean doesn’t touch it. I can’t get it done
if …”
“Go!” Liz begged. Anything to get Maria to calm down,
to take a few extra breaths. The girl was an unhealthy shade of red.
“Bless you!” Maria took her order book and shoved it in
Liz’s hands while rushing into the breakroom to get her keys and jacket.
Michael left the kitchen as Liz followed her. “Spaceboy, prepare yourself. I
might have to run away from home. Can I sack at your place?”
“Always,” Michael said.
Maria hugged Michael quickly and waved at Liz as she rushed
out the back door in a flurry of limbs, mumbling to herself the entire time.
“Wow! I thought I was obsessing. I stand corrected and
watch a master.” Liz said to herself. Glancing at Michael she shrugged.
“Well, back to work.”
Michael grabbed the back of the sash tying Liz’s apron
and pulled her back before she could run away. “Uh-uh.” He shook his head.
“Uh-uh?” Liz repeated.
“What the heck is going on? Who is Sean? And what has
Maria all upset?” Michael looked Maria’s oldest friend over. “Liz?
Spill.”
~~~
At the Evans house, Grant Sorenson was flipping through TV
channels as Max walked in with a look of distrust. He was clearly unhappy to see
Grant.
“Grant.”
“Hey, Max.” Grant answered socially enough as he
continued to flip though stations.
“You’re uh ...
“Waiting for Isabel.”
“Oh, right. I’ll go check on her.” Max entered
Isabel’s room, stopping in amazement at the mess. Isabel was hurriedly going
through her closet of clothes picking out something to wear.
“You know, Grant’s downstairs.”
“I know.” Isabel tossed off a sweater and pulled on
another.
“Do you really like that guy?”
“Don’t start with me, Max.” Isabel looked in the
mirror hating what she had on. Tossing it aside, she went to stare in her closet
grabbing more clothing from hangers.
Max noticed how distracted Isabel was. “What’s
wrong?”
“I just … I’ve been thinking about that girl all day.
You know?” Isabel confessed looking at her brother. “It was different. It
was like she was dreamwalking me.”
“You mean, like, she’s an alien?”
“No, no, I don’t think so.” Isabel couldn’t explain
it.
“Well, maybe you should cancel your date.
Isabel shook her head. “You know how many times I have
cancelled in the last month? I have no more excuses.”
“Well, tell him the truth.” Max suggested. “You’ve
been battling evil aliens for control of the planet and it’s hard to fit him
in.”
“Funny. No, no, I want a normal date with a normal guy
tonight. I’m going, so just … just tell him I’ll be ready in five
minutes.” Isabel demanded. “Okay? Five minutes.”
“Five minutes.” Max repeated looking around the room.
No way in hell.
“Yeah, five minutes. Okay? Thank you.” Isabel went back
to obsessing over her clothes.
~~~
Kyle was sitting in front of the TV. It wasn’t on. He
tried out his alien powers by raising his hand toward the screen trying to turn
the TV on. Concentrating, he failed to see Tess walk up behind him. Smiling, she
saw what he was doing, so she picked up the remote control and turned the TV on
in concert with his hand gesture.
“Oh God, jeez.” Tess chuckled quietly to herself as
Kyle tried again. “Channel 15,” he commanded as Tess changed to the channel
with the remote. Kyle was visibly freaked out at his newfound power. “Channel
23” Tess changed the channel again. “Unscrambled porn.” Tess changed it
again, and Kyle jumped up in triumph with his fist in the air. “I have become
…” he turned seeing Tess behind him. “… an idiot.”
“Oh, but a cute one.” Tess said laughing as she tossed
the remote to Kyle. “Hey.”
~~~
It was much later when Isabel and Max sat in Valenti’s
living room telling him about Isabel’s latest dream. She had gone to the
movies with Grant, but during the movie she had fallen asleep in an almost fugue
state. During that time she received another flash of a young girl being
kidnapped as she went to her car. There were drugs and a syringe. The man was
dragging the girl in a black bag. Once the date was over, Isabel found Max, and
together they went to Jim.
“I need to find her. She’s in trouble. She’s going to
die.” Isabel told Jim, her earnest belief touching him.
“I thought you weren’t sure.”
“It’s real Sheriff. I know it’s happening.”
Max easily supported his sister’s abilities. “You have
to find her.”
“Find who?” Jim asked frustrated as they were. “What
missing girl? No one’s been reported. I don’t know what she looks like. I
don’t have any leads …”
“I saw her car. It’s silver.”
That was something. “Did you see the plates?” Jim asked
hopefully.
“No, but it’s a Honda, or a
“Okay, I guess I could start looking through the
abandoned vehicle reports. See if it’s turned up. Okay?”
“Thank you. I’m sorry for barging in like this.”
Isabel told the Sheriff sorry to have caught him getting ready for bed.
“Hey, hey. It’s okay, alright?” Jim reassured the
young girl.
“Thank you.” Isabel said as Max led her out of the
house, he paused after Isabel went through the door to go to the jeep.
“I know how all this must look.” Max said.
“I believe her. I do.” Jim reassured Max. “I just
don’t know how realistic it is to think that I’m going to be able to find
this girl with this evidence.”
“I know. Thanks.”
After Max and Isabel left Jim made a call. “Hansen, I’m
coming in.” Jim sighed as he went to change back into street clothes. On his
way to the PD, he stopped at the Crashdown to get coffee and food to help him
through what looked to be a long night.
Jim ran into an old friend, Judith Foster, and he spent a
few moments exchanging conversation until he noticed the woman was slightly
worried. Her eldest daughter, Melissa was missing, or at least she hadn’t
bothered to call her mother. The girl had gone to visit friends in
“Melissa drives a silver car doesn’t she?” Jim asked
suddenly suspicious that he might have found the missing girl.
Judith Foster was suddenly alarmed by the Sheriff’s
interest. “Yeah,
Jim took Judith to the PD and got his deputies busy on
trying to track down Melissa Foster. They contacted her friends and patrolled
highway 285 searching for her car. Judith Foster was very helpful providing a
picture and all that she knew about what Melissa was wearing and what she took
with her on the trip. While Jim was busy, Dan came into the room. Dan asked Jim
about what was happening, and Jim explained he was busy looking for a missing
girl. When Jim took the picture of Melissa and went to office Dan asked who was
in the office.
Jim turned back glancing at Dan but he didn’t answer.
Going into his office, he shut the door. Max and Isabel were waiting. Jim handed
Isabel a picture of Melissa Foster.
“Is this her?”
Isabel frowned at the picture, just not certain. “The
hair’s the right color.” Isabel nodded. “I think so.”
“Are you sure?” Jim needed her to be very sure. He had
a mother outside getting progressively worried every moment that ticked by.
“I never saw her clearly, but it’s her. It has to
be.”
“I hope you’re wrong. I’ve known the Fosters for
years.”
Max looked at the picture shaking his head. “Well, I
don’t recognize her.”
“She goes to Goddard High.” Jim explained to Max.
“The terror. I felt it so clearly in the last dream.”
Isabel told Jim stressing the urgency. “We have to get her back. I need to.”
“You and me both,” Jim assured Isabel. He desperately
needed to find the girl to justify his actions and use of manpower, not to
mention having scared a good friend.
~~~
Michael stayed late and helped to close the Crashdown with
Liz. They were sitting at the counter as Liz refilled the sugar dispensers and
Michael ate a late dinner.
“Okay, Sean DeLuca,” Michael prompted Liz.
“Maria’s cousin.” Liz offered. Michael gave her a
look and Liz sighed. “Fine. What do you want to know?”
“Why he has her running faster and harder than Madam
Vivian’s curse of true love.”
Liz seemed shocked at how much Michael saw in a glance.
“She loves him, and it hurts. He hurts her and he hurts her mom, and she might
forgive him for herself, but not her mom.”
“Explain.”
“Sean’s father was Maria’s mom’s brother. Ryan
DeLuca was a great dad, a great uncle, and a great brother. He and Sean’s
mother died in a car crash when Sean was fourteen, and I guess Maria was about
twelve. At first Sean went to their grandmother, but she couldn’t handle a boy
like Sean, one that was angry at the world. So …”
“Maria’s mom took him.” Michael guessed.
“Yeah,” Liz spilt some sugar on the counter and started
doodling designs in the granules. “Sean loved Amy and Maria, and they loved
him. They weren’t the problem. Sean was. He … it took a long time for him to
get over his parents’ death, and during that time he got into a lot of
trouble. Mostly, small stuff like breaking and entering, or shoplifting. He
skipped classes, failed to turn in work … there were a few other things.”
Michael shrugged. That didn’t sound so bad.
“He started drinking. Mostly a beer here, a beer there.
Mrs. DeLuca was always getting him out of trouble, and sometimes, it cost a lot.
She worked really hard to keep Sean, to keep him safe and happy. It didn’t
work. One night, he got drunk and he drove the car through a store window. No
one got hurt, but it was the final straw. The judge sentenced him to juvie for
three years and until he received his high school diploma. He was sixteen.”
“So why is Maria upset?”
“Maria’s mom, she loves Sean like her own son, and
he’s the image of her brother. It was hard when she failed, and Sean was sent
away. He left her with a dead car and a huge bill to pay to repair the damage to
the store front. It almost broke Mrs. DeLuca. She took out extra loans on her
business and house, and almost lost them too. It was pretty bad for a few years.
Maria watched her mother struggle. Her mom was never upset about the money …
just about Sean.”
Michael was quiet for a few moments. He nodded as if he
understood something in his own head. “Thanks.” He took his plate into the
kitchen, and then grabbing his coat, he went to the DeLucas. Letting himself in
Maria’s window, he found her sitting up in bed in the dark. Not saying
anything, he lay down next to her, offering her his arm as she moved to sleep
next to him.
Michael was the first person up. He put on the coffee and
went through the house quietly gathering the trash. It was trash day. Taking the
garbage out to the curb, he came back inside and was confronted by Sean DeLuca.
“You are...?”
“Michael.”
“Michael? I don’t know you.” Sean said vaguely
remember a Michael kid around Maria’s age, but that was a long time ago.
“That’s right, you don’t.” Michael shut the door.
He walked around the other boy and went down the hall to the bathroom. Shutting
the door, he left a thoughtful Sean watching the closed door.
~~~
Maria held the order over Sean head clearing her throat
much like her mother did. “In case I haven’t told you this. You dine n’
dash here, you die.” Sean reached into his pocket put his money on the table.
Maria peered at it closely. “Is there a tip in there?”
“Just give me the burger.”
“How about a little talk, hmmm?” Maria sat the burger
down and took a seat across from her cousin. “Alright, in our house there are
rules, and as strange, unimaginable, and bizarre as it may seem - we live our
lives by these very simple rules.”
“Okay.” Sean looked at the inside of the bun, and
quickly picked off what he didn’t want, adding mustard.
“Rule one, toilet seat is left down. Rule two, underwear
are not left on the floor, no.” Maria shook her head not wanting to imagine
her cousin’s underwear let alone … see it. “Rule three, milk is poured
into a glass, not directly consumed by the carton. Rule four …”
“There a lot of these rules?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll write them down for you, assuming
of course, that you can read.”
“Of course,” Sean said more to himself. Not on the
reading, but rather on the fact that Maria would write them down so he
couldn’t pretend not to know them.
“Now, pay attention please. Rule four is very important.
Leave Liz alone.”
“Why, is she part of that house too or something?”
Maria glared at him. “I am not kidding, Sean. She is way
off limits to you. Okay? Way, way, off limits.”
“Way.”
“Look, I saw the way you looked at her, alright? ‘All
grown up. I like it’ No, it’s not going to happen, Sean.”
“Okay.” Sean agreed more interested in other things,
but this topic was at least a topic that got Maria to talk to him.
“She’s in a very delicate and fragile place in her life
right now.” Maria assured Sean as the delicate desert blossom, Liz yelled in
the background, “Dammit Eddie, where’s my order?” Sean looked
questioningly at Maria. “I’m serious,” she warned him.
“I hear you, alright? Leave her alone. I get it. What do
you want from me?” Sean demanded wanting her to stop harping on him.
“I’ll give you the list by the end of the day.” Maria
told him flippantly as she got up to go back to work.
“Maria,” Sean said quietly to her. “I’m not going
to leave again. Not this time.”
Maria refused to look at him. “That remains to be
seen.”
Sean reached out a hand to stop her from walking away. He
did that once. He left and it cost Maria and his aunt everything. He wouldn’t
do that again. He wouldn’t risk them again. “You want to tell me about this
Michael guy?”
“No. He’s none of your business.”
“Okay.” Sean said accepting that. Michael Guerin
wasn’t his business … yet, but he planned to make him so very soon. “Then
how about you explain why he slept in your bedroom last night.”
“Thanks. I think I’ll add that to the list of rules. My
personal life and friends are none of your business … so get over it.”
~~~
Isabel was in her room trying to dreamwalk. After many
attempts she saw the blond girl again being dragged in the forest. This time she
saw the face of the man and it was Grant Sorenson. Isabel woke up upset with Max
shaking her. Telling Max about Grant, they went to see Jim at his office the
next day.
Jim went to the judge to get a search warrant, but the
judge was reluctant to give one without probable cause, especially since Grant
had already filed a complaint against Valenti during the time that Tess had been
kidnapped. Searching Grant’s rooms without a warrant and shoving a gun in the
man’s face had left an impression and lots of hard feelings.
Unable to procure the warrant, Jim and Hanson went to
search Grant’s campsite anyway. Upset that every time a girl came up missing,
Valenti felt the need to roust him like the local sex offender, Grant Sorenson
filed another complaint. When Jim got back to
“Dan.”
“Okay, cards on the table, Jimbo. What’s going on
here?”
“I’m in the middle of an investigation.” Jim told the
other man.
“Where you been the last four hours?”
“Following a lead. Checking out a suspect,” Jim
informed Dan going back to work looking through reports. “Any more
questions?”
“Yeah, you get a warrant for Sorenson this time?”
Jim put down his papers and looked at his once friend.
“You always know more than you let on, don’t you Dan? I should have
remembered that the day you walked through my door.”
“It’s part of my job, Jimbo, and what I know right now
is that you disappear for days on end and you spend a lot of time lately with
teenage kids.” Dan’s eyes became serious and penetrating. “That’s
awfully strange behavior.”
“This isn’t about the Hubble case is it? What the hell
is going on here?”
“The State Board has had you in their watch file for a
long time now, what with your reputation for chasing UFO’s and what not,”
Dan said with a little spite knowing Jim’s own father’s history. “But
right now it’s your own men who are talking, and they want to know what’s
happened to their sheriff.”
“I don’t owe them an explanation.”
“You owe me!” Dan yelled at Jim as Jim returned the
favor and the two men yelled at each other in anger. “You’re crossing a lot
of lines and I want to know why!”
“I haven’t been able to carry on an investigation. A
girl’s life is on the line.” The two men were interrupted by a knock on the
door. “What!” Jim demanded.
Hansen stuck his head in the door. “Uh, Sheriff. I’m
sorry but, uh …” Hansen showed a young blond girl into Valenti’s office.
“Can we help you?” Dan asked the teenage girl.
“Yeah, hi. I’m Melissa Foster. I heard you were looking
for me.”
~~~
Valenti met Max and Isabel outside in the alley behind the
Sheriff’s office, the same alley that Max and Michael had once jumped into the
dumpster from Jim’s window, so long ago.
“Girl said her car gave out halfway to
“What about you?” Max asked quietly his dark eyes
darker than usual.
“I’ll have some awkward questions to answer but I’m
sure it will blow over.”
“Sheriff, I am so sorry. I don’t know how I could have
been so wrong. I …”
“Hey, you didn’t do anything wrong. You have gifts the
rest of us don’t, and I trust those gifts. And if anything like this ever
happens again, I want you to come to me.” Jim reassured the alien girl.
“I’ll be fine.”
~~~
Valenti found himself to be wrong in his reassurances to
Isabel. He was in a lot of trouble as he faced an angry judge and Dan Lubetkin
was determined to interrogate him.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” the judge demanded.
“You conduct an illegal search after I say no!”
“You know, Sorenson has filed a 15 million-dollar civil
suit against the city?” Dan asked.
“For what?” Jim asked. “Because I ruined his stupid
experiment? He’s gonna be laughed out of court.”
The judge threw his hands up in anger at Jim’s attitude.
“I’m half tempted to have you thrown into your own jail on a contempt
citation.” How could his Sheriff have so little regard for individual rights,
trampling them at will?
“I’m sorry. Okay, I was wrong.” Jim conceded
readjusting his attitude. “I had a hunch. I had to follow it.”
“A hunch!” The judge demanded, gripping his golfing
iron. “You told me you had a witness!”
“You told Judith Foster you had two witnesses!” Dan
clarified. “You terrified that family! I spent all day trying to calm them
down.”
“There are two witnesses, but I promised them anonymity.
I can’t break that promise.”
“Are we talking about those kids again?” Dan asked
suspiciously.
“No.”
The judge looked at Dan. “What kids?”
“Max and Isabel Evans.”
“This has nothing to do with them.” Jim insisted angry
that Dan brought the Evans kids up.
“Then who?” The judge demanded. “I want names and I
want them now.”
“I’m sorry.” Jim refused to name his source unable to
bring the aliens into it.
The judge stood up to leave. He pointed his golfing iron at
Jim. “Best find yourself a lawyer.”
~~~
Max sat on his sister’s bed talking to her as she
prepared to go to bed early. Her sleep had been disturbed too often lately and
she was needing a night of sleep uninterrupted.
“Isabel, I don’t understand this. You’ve never been
wrong about this in the past and we’ve always gone with your judgment.” Max
said to Isabel.
“I don’t understand it either, Max. This wasn’t
something that I planned.”
“How could this happen?”
“I don’t know.” Isabel worried over the Sheriff’s
suspension due to her visions.
“Valenti might be losing his job because of us. Have you
thought about that?”
“Of course I have, but what was I supposed to do?”
Isabel asked. “Just let her die?”
“There is no missing girl, Alright!” Max tried to
convince her wishing that the visions would simply go away. “Your dreams were
wrong. You were wrong.”
“Don’t’ you think I know that?” Isabel hugged her
knees to her chest resting her head against them. “Maybe part of me just
needed her to be missing.”
“What do you mean?”
“After everything we’ve been through, after all the
pain that we’ve caused, I just wanted what we are, what I am, to do something
good for a change.”
“Isabel, you are my sister. You yell at me, you
second-guess me, and you piss me off. You also saved my life, and I don’t care
what we’ve been through; I still believe in you. I always will.” Max smiled
at her. “Go get some sleep. You look … really bad.”
“Thanks!” Isabel said sarcastically smiling at her
brother as he kissed her forehead when she laid back.
~~~
“Hey.” Michael caught Maria as she raced by.
“What?”
Michael frowned. She was barely talking to him; actually,
she was barely talking to anyone. Recognizing her shut down look, he scratched
his eyebrow. “You gonna tell me what’s bothering you any time soon?”
“Probably not,” Maria answered breezily, intent on
leaving, but then she stopped. Turning quickly, she went into his arms leaning
her head against his chest with her eyes closed. “Sorry. You know this isn’t
about you, right?”
“Yeah, I know.” Michael glanced out of the kitchen to
the quiet Crashdown. Liz was working too, and she was talking to Kyle who was
sitting at the counter. “You want to get away?”
“Dying to.”
“Late night ride through the desert on my bike?”
Maria nodded wrapping her arms around his middle hugging
him tight. “I really appreciate you, you know that, right?”
Michael laughed softly hugging her. Yeah he knew that.
Maybe that was the mystery of their friendship. She always listened to him,
always tried to understand, and even when he royally pissed her off. A voice of
reason would rise from her irrational behavior and calm her to actually listen
to his side of things. Maybe it was because she treated him like he could fix
anything … everything. Being Maria’s hero was becoming his addiction. “Go.
Let’s get this shift done, take you home to change and then take off.”
Maria nodded reaching up to pat him on the cheek before
swinging out of the kitchen to join Liz and Kyle in the diner. Michael who had
no active orders, leaned in the order window to talk to the others, his eyes
occasionally glancing at the clock. He half listened to Kyle, smirking in
amusement at the other boy’s woes.
“Tess is openly mocking me now.” Kyle grieved to the
others. “This morning I woke up with little antennae coming out of my head.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Liz told Kyle leaning on
the counter she just cleaned sympathizing with Kyle’s alien problems. It took
one to know one, and she had alien troubles with a capital T. “We need
professional help.”
Sean wandered into the Crashdown to check on his cousin.
Unhappy with their earlier disagreement, he felt compelled to make sure she was
okay. “Yo, M!”
“M? No, see um … in the real world we use names.”
Maria told her irritating cousin as she moved down the counter to intercept him.
“My name is Maria.”
Kyle glanced at Michael gesturing to Sean. “Who’s
that?”
“Maria’s loser cousin Sean,” Michael told Kyle, his
face closing down as he stared at Sean unyieldingly.
“Can I get some fries, tough guy?” Sean asked
pleasantly, pleased that he was getting under Michael’s skin, the two men
confrontational.
“No.” Michael said firmly. Not on his damn shift. He
received a look of adoration from Maria.
“Sorry, we’re closed.” Maria said shooing her cousin
away. “So sorry.”
“Anyway, the point is, I’m just saying It’s gonna be
okay.” Kyle continued to Liz, ignoring the DeLuca-Guerin weird zone. “I mean
we’re both obsessed people but we’ll get through it. At least we have each
other.”
Liz wasn’t paying attention to Kyle, her eyes were
fixated on Sean. “You know, uh, I think the fryer is still warm. I could whip
you up some fries.” She offered. Maria turned and stared at Liz with her mouth
open in shock. Oh no! No. This was so not good. No!
Sean smiled and winked at Liz, feeling his welcome
dwindling fast. “Nah, forget it. I’ll scrounge something up at home.” Sean
turned easily and walked out of the Crashdown, happy to have spread cheer and
excitement in his sweet little cousin’s life. God knows she needed it … look
at the big brainless ape she was keeping company with.
“It’s not your home.” Maria called loudly at her
cousin’s receding back, “Stop calling it that. You’re just passing
throoough!” as he was out the door, and out of earshot. Maria whipped around
shaking her head at her friend. “You’re not actually thinking …”
Liz made a face, her skin pinking up as her eyes kept going
back to where Sean had just been. “No, of course not.”
Maria threw her hands up in exasperation. “All I try and
do is help. Does anybody listen?” she demanded more to herself, her grievances
growing as the time ticked down moments. Michael shook his head at the
appearance of insano-girl. Uh-huh. At least the appearance of Sean-Juvie from
Hell, Maria forgot to obsess over Madam Vivian’s curse to her happiness.
“I’m sorry, what were you saying?” Liz asked Kyle
having realized that he had been talking to her.
“Nothing. I was just talking to myself.” Kyle reassured
Liz as he glanced at Maria. “Hey, you got any cousins for me?” Kyle ducked
quickly as the towel Maria had been holding came flying at his head.
~~~
Isabel was asleep in bed the same night. She had another
vision. The vision this time became more physical as she seemed to feel what the
girl was feeling, almost trapped in the girl’s mind, as if it was happening to
her as well.
“Where am I?” Isabel asked.
“No, please don’t!” The kidnapped girl begged.
Dream Isabel looked around in fright, feeling a need to
hide, to run. She circled frantically screaming for her brother. “Max, Max!
No, Max … Max!”
The girl’s attacker took out a syringe. Isabel screamed
and her sleeping body began to react like the kidnapped girl’s.
“Help me!” Isabel screamed in her sleep.
Max rushed into the room immediately going to Isabel,
sitting on her bed he tried to wake her. “I’m here. Isabel. Isabel, wake
up.”
“No, please! Don’t do this. You don’t have to do
this. No!” Isabel screamed still caught in the dream. Suddenly she woke
sitting up in a harsh gasp as Max grabbed her holding her tight, his hands
moving over her trying to calm her.
“Isabel, are you alright?” Max asked thickly.
“Oh, my God.”
~~~
Dan entered Jim’s office and sat on the edge of his desk.
“Judith Foster is filing a grievance with the State police board. She wants a
formal investigation into your actions.”
“I wonder who put that idea into her head?”
“Lotta questions here, Jimbo.” Dan told him. “Time
for you to start thinkin’ of some answers.”
“Talk to my lawyer.” Jim