Author: Miranda Douglass
Email: [email protected]
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or the basic premise behind the show.
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: I don’t usually write these types of fics. I think that’s because they are usually written with the weak, helpless female waiting for her knight in shining armor to rescue her and revenge any wrongs. I like my characters to be independent and a bit more realistic. But, I woke up this morning with this story in my head and I couldn’t get rid of it. I can see the dynamic of the whole group being shaken by Max and Liz breaking up. I thought it would be interesting to look at how a life-shattering event can both tear people up and bring them together at the same time. How it can resolve some issues while raising new ones. Now, I don’t know all of the medical and legal procedures in such a case. The laws differ by state anyway. So I don’t want to get flamed because the doctor would not do such a test, etc. I’m going by my own experiences and what I think could logically happen.
Blame (Part One)
Liz sat down wearily on the bench and lowered her face into her hands, scrubbing at her eyes. It had been three weeks since Max had broken things off with her--three weeks of hell. She hadn’t slept through an entire night since that evening on her roof.
Tonight she hadn’t been able to bear the thought of putting on her pajamas and lying in her bed just to stare at the ceiling until dawn. So, she had gone for a walk and had ended up sitting on a bench in Grant Park. She never imagined her life would become so pathetic.
“Hi, there.”
Liz looked up, startled at the sudden intrusion. She hadn’t even heard anyone approach. The two guys looked a couple of years older and they both sported old letter jackets from Artesia High. They sat down on either side of her. Liz suddenly realized she was alone in a deserted park in the middle of the night with two strangers.
“I’ll just let you guys have the bench,” she murmured, moving to leave.
“No, don’t go.”
Liz looked down at the hand on her arm. She slowly raised her
eyes to the boy sitting next to her. He was smiling but his eyes
were glassy and Liz could smell the alcohol on his breath as he
leaned forward. “You look like you could use a friend.”
A warm hand clamped over her mouth while another arm looped itself around her neck, pulling her into a headlock as she was yanked to her feet. “Let’s find someplace a little more private to get to know each other,” the guy who had grabbed her growled in her ear.
Liz found herself pushed against a tree in a dark area of the park. The taller guy, the one who had grabbed her, gripped her chin hard and tried to force his tongue into her mouth. She kicked him in the shin and pushed against him as hard as she could. He stumbled a bit, losing his grip on her long enough for her to make a break for it.
She only managed three steps before she screamed at the sharp burst of pain as the other guy grabbed her arm and jerked her backward. He didn’t say a word as he spun her around to face him.
Then, with one booted foot, he swept her feet out from under her and she landed hard on her back. Liz gagged as something was stuffed in her mouth. She was dimly aware of one of them kneeling over her, smiling upside down at her, as he held her arms over her head.
Her mind shut itself down as the buttons on her shirt were torn away. She just lay on the ground, staring up at the stars shining in the clear sky.
Michael couldn’t sleep. He hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep since they had performed the ritual in the cave. And it was all Max’s fault. Michael had decided that night that he wanted Maria and he had as much as told her so when he said he was through running. But then Max had gone and broken up with Liz and Michael was left wondering what to do.
How could he and Maria be happy together when Max and Liz were miserable?
They had all walked on pins and needles around the two of them for days, then they had even stopped eating lunch together because it was just too awkward. Now it was back to Alex, Liz and Maria in one corner of the quad, Max and Isabel in another and Michael off by himself somewhere.
Every night Michael lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, running through all of the conversations he and Maria hadn’t had that day, remembering all the kisses they hadn’t shared. Trying to actually fall asleep was just too hard.
So, Michael did what he always did when he couldn’t sleep, he prowled the deserted streets of Roswell.
Michael stopped dead at the sight of the police car parked in front of the Crashdown. Then he crept to the corner of the building and watched as Deputy Hanson talked to Liz’s parents at the door to their private entrance. He strained his ears, trying to catch any part of the conversation.
Mrs. Parker cried out at something the deputy said and
clutched her husband’s shoulder. Michael crept a little
closer and ducked behind the dumpster next to the employee’sentrance.
“…lucky she was found when she was. She was taken to
the emergency room a few minutes ago. We’ll do
everything we can to find who did this to your daughter, Mr. and
Mrs. Parker.”
Michael waited in the shadows until the deputy had left and the Parker's had gone inside to get dressed. Then he ran straight to Maria’s house.
Maria raised the blinds on her window and looked straight into Michael’s face on the other side of the glass. “Michael?” Maria stomach fluttered at the thought of Michael coming to her room in the middle of the night. She raised the window and gestured for him to come in. “Get in before the neighbors see you. I have a reputation to protect you know.”
The smile faded from her lips at the seriousness of his expression. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Liz. She’s been taken to the hospital.”
Maria’s eyes widened. “Oh, my God, what happened?”
Michael shook his head. “I don’t know. I just overheard the cops telling the Parker's that she had been taken to the emergency room.”
“Have you told Max yet?”
Michael shook his head again. “I came here first.”
Maria met his eyes for just an instant. “Thanks.” Then she grabbed her phone. “What’s his number?”
Max felt like he had been drugged. He was so tired lately that it seemed all he did was sleep. Isabel liked to tell him that depression had that effect on some people. Max liked to remind her that he wasn’t technically a person.
The ringing noise sounded far away, in another room.
He pushed his head further into the pillow and wished someone would make it stop. The noise grew closer, speeding down the hall, forcing Max to pull the pillow over his head to block the annoying, persistent sound. Then it was suddenly next to his bed.
Max sat upright, realizing that it was his telephone. He fumbled for the receiver and finally succeeding in bringing it to his ear.
“Max, are you going to answer your phone or do you plan to wait for everyone in the house to wake up?” Isabel stood in the doorway of his room.
Max waved an arm at her to be quiet and tried to focus his attention on whoever was on the other end. “—and we’re on our way now. Are you coming or … do you want us to call you or something when we have morenews?”
“Maria?”
“Max, wake up. Did you hear anything I said?” Maria sounded close to hysteria stage.
Max heard a mumble of voices and the phone shifting hands. “Max? It’s Michael.”
“Michael? What’s going on? Is Maria okay?”
Isabel quickly shut the door at Max’s words and sat next to him on the bed. She looked at him questioningly but he shook his head silently and held up his hand for her to wait a moment.
“Maria’s okay, I think. Listen, Max, I think something may have happened to Liz. I was going by her place and the cops were there. I heard them say something to her parents about their daughter and the hospital. I don’t know if it’s anything serious, but her folks seemed pretty upset.”
Max hung up the phone without a word and stumbled to his closet, fishing on the floor for the clothes he had worn that day.
“Max, what’s going on?” Isabel still sat on the bed.
“Something’s happened to Liz.” He jerked a sweatshirt down over his head.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know,” he flared at her. He raked one
trembling hand through his hair and fixed Isabel with
a level gaze. “I don’t know. Michael heard she was
taken to the hospital. I’m going. If you want to go you’d
better hurry, because I’m not waiting.”
The jeep screeched to a halt just as Michael and Maria were starting up the walk to the emergency entrance of the hospital. The four looked at each other. It had been almost three weeks since they had been together.
Michael had avoided Max, Michael and Max had both avoided Maria. Isabel had tried to maintain contact with the other girls, but it had proven too difficult. Every time Isabel saw Liz’s despondent face she felt an overwhelming urge to punch her brother, so she had gone back to hanging out with the popular crowd she had been in before.
Even now, no one said a word. They just turned as a group and entered the hospital.
Maria ran straight to Liz’s parents.
“Maria. What are you doing here?” Mr. Parker stood up as the teens approached.
“We heard Liz was here. Is she?”
Mr. Parker nodded. “What’s wrong with her?”
Mr. Parker’s eyes quickly took in the faces around him and finally rested back on Maria. “She was raped,” he said simply.