Author: X_tremeroswellian
Email: [email protected]
Disclaimer: How depressing...yeah, yeah. Not mine. Originally created by Melinda Metz, and now Jason Katims and the WB and a bunch of others who actually make money for entertaining us. :)
Rating: R (for language, violence, and sexual content)
Spoilers: Up through "The UFO Convention" and possibly for the first five books of the Roswell High series by Melinda Metz.
Author's Note: This plot was mentioned by some people on the onelists that I belong to...as possible spoilers for upcoming episodes. I don't know, but I agree with the people who were discussing this, so this is my version of what direction things could take on the show.
Feedback: Please? Please? Thanks! :)
In the Presence of Evil (Part Two)
"What about this?" Maria asked, holding up a purple silk shirt and short black skirt.
"Depends," Alex offered. "What are you going for? Knocking him off his feet or on-the-spot-heart-attack?"
Maria made a face at him.
Liz smiled and looked at Maria. "I think it'd be great tomorrow night on our triple date. Go for it."
"Great!" Maria said, forcing herself to be cheery. "Well, now that we know what I'm wearing, we need to figure out what you're wearing." She rummaged through Liz's closet until she found a dress in the back with the tags still on it. "You've been holding out on me, Lizzie!"
"I am not wearing that to the movies."
"Just try it on," Maria urged, handing the dress to her.
Liz sighed. "Fine. I'll be right back." She disappeared into the bathroom.
Maria heard a distant knocking and she rolled her eyes. "I'll go get it."
Alex sighed as she left the room. Isabel Evans was the last person in the world he wanted to see right then. Why had he ever thought that dating her could even be possible for someone like him? And for her to know that was how he felt about her and to be told he was suffocating her...how embarrasing.
Just then, the bathroom door opened and Liz walked back in, looking a bit apprehensive.
Alex's eyes widened. "Wow! Liz, you look gorgeous!"
"Really?"
"Let's just say if you walked outside right now every car within ten miles would stop."
Liz blushed slightly and then looked around the room. "Where's Maria?"
"She's in the other room."
"Oh. Well, I'm going to go see what she thinks."
"Okay." His brain didn't process what she'd said until she'd already left the room. Then he leapt to his feet. "Liz! Wait!"
Liz plastered a smile on her face and spun around in a circle as she stepped into the living room. "Maria, what do you--" she cut herself off as she realized that Max, Michael and Isabel were standing there with Maria. "--think?" she finished, swallowing hard.
Max stared at her, his mouth open slightly. He felt like he couldn't breathe. All he could do was stare at Liz in her short, silk red spaghetti strap dress, with her long hair framing her face softly. She looked like a goddess. Even Michael and Isabel were staring.
Maria noticed Max's reaction. "A definite on-the-spot-heart-attack. I bet Max would agree with me, right Max?" He didn't answer. Maria didn't think he'd even heard her question. "But, I think it may be a bit over-dressy for dinner and a movie."
Max definitely heard those words. He froze. "You--have a date?"
"Yeah, we all do," Maria informed him, ignoring the stare she was getting from Michael.
"All of you?" Isabel repeated.
Alex smiled at Liz and Maria. "That's right."
Max couldn't take his eyes off Liz. The only thing he wanted to do right then was cross the room to her, sweep her into his arms and carry her off to her bedroom. He swallowed hard.
"I'm-uh-just going to go change now," Liz said quietly. She'd never been so embarrassed in her entire life. She turned and all but ran to her room. They all heard the slam of her door and Max jumped.
"Stop drooling," Isabel commanded. "We're here on business, remember?"
Maria flopped down on the couch. "So, what journey are we going on now, Odysseus?" she asked Michael.
He glared at her. "We're not."
Alex leaned against the wall, forcing himself to look anywhere but at Isabel, who was dressed in a red sweater and black jeans. He heard Liz come up behind him, and hesitate, knowing that she was hidden from view behind him. Then she moved until she was perched on the edge of the couch next to Maria. She was now wearing a long-sleeved green sweater and blue jeans.
She looked from Max to Isabel to Michael and then back to Max. "So, is anyone going to tell us what's going on?" she asked quietly.
Max hadn't taken his eyes off her since she'd come back into the room.
"We think you're all in danger," Michael said, getting right to the point.
Alex, Liz and Maria all stared at him. "What are you talking about?" Maria asked.
Isabel glanced at Michael and then back at Maria. "Michael had a vision. A flash of...intuition, if you will. In that flash, he felt danger for the three of you. That's why he ran out of the Crashdown earlier."
"And I thought it was something I said," Maria said sarcastically.
"This is serious," Max said quietly.
"Isn't it always?" she retorted, glaring at him.
"What kind of danger?" Liz spoke up softly. She met Max's eyes and he silently thanked her.
Michael clenched his jaw. "I don't know for sure."
"Big surprise," Maria muttered.
"Hey, look! I'm just trying to help you out!" Michael said angrily, rising to his feet and moving toward Maria.
Alex moved across the room and stepped in front of him, blocking him from Maria. "Back off," he warned.
Michael glared at him, but Alex didn't budge.
"This is ridiculous!" Michael exploded. "I'm here trying to make sure you're all okay and wonder boy here is acting like I'm the Son of Sam!"
"Alex was sticking up for me," Maria said sharply, standing up and moving next to Alex. She glared at Michael.
"Michael wouldn't hurt you!" Isabel said furiously.
"Yeah, he'd never do anything to Maria," Alex said sarcastically.
"What is this about, Maria? That I don't feel the same way about you that you do about me?"
"No, Michael, this is about you being too afraid to admit how you really feel because it makes you feel too human!" Maria replied, her eyes blazing. "All three of you! You're all cowards!"
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Isabel interupted. "You have no idea what it's like to be us! You don't know what it's like to not know where you come from or who you really are!"
Maria's eyes darkened and filled with even more anger and hurt. "Yeah, I have no idea what it's like not to have a father, to not know why he left me and my mom when I was two months old! Maybe I don't know what it's like to be you exactly, but I do know how it feels to spend your whole life not knowing where you come from or who you are!"
"At least you have a real mother who loves you," Isabel said quietly.
Michael stared at Maria. He wasn't about to say anything about her family life. He knew from their one brief conversation in that cheap motel on the way to Texas that the situation was a sore spot with her.
"So do you," Maria answered just as quietly.
"My mother doesn't know who I am! She never will!" Isabel was dangerously close to crying now.
"At least she wants to know!" Maria's voice was raw with emotion. "Your mother wants to know who you are! Mine's too busy with work and boyfriends to give a damn!"
Alex wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She looked away, not wanting anyone to see her crying.
Isabel turned away from the three humans and stared out the window, blinking back her own tears.
"Don't you understand? We are the outsiders here. You don't know what that feels like!" Michael said, struggling to contain his emotions.
Maria started to respond, but Liz was quicker. "You're wrong," she said, her voice strained. "You don't have to be outsiders. And I do know how it feels. We all do, Michael. Because we try to be your friends, to help you out, to be there for you, but you push us away! You make us outsiders, not the other way around!"
"The only reason you're involved is because of an accident," Michael said sharply. He hadn't really meant to say it, it just came out.
"You mean a mistake, don't you? That's what you really wanted to say." Liz swallowed hard and she fought to keep her voice even. "I know how you feel about me, Michael. Believe me, you and Isabel have made it blatantly clear. I know you hate me because Max saved me. Well, you know what? I'm sorry that he did, too!"
Michael flinched at her words. That's not what he'd meant at all.
Max's eyes widened. "Liz, don't say th--"
"Say what, Max? The truth? You shouldn't have healed me. I've only complicated and messed up your life, and Michael's life and Isabel's life. But I won't do it anymore. I'll stay away from you..." she said, the tremor in her voice unmistakable as she gazed at Max and her eyes filled with tears. "...from all of you. You get your wish. Have a nice life. I hope you all find everything you're looking for."
She held Max's gaze for only a second before her tears spilled over and she shot out of the room and raced to the back. Alex let go of Maria and ran after Liz.
Max started to go after her, too, but Maria grabbed his arm. "I think you should leave now. The three of you did what you came here to do. Now go mess with someone else's mind for a change!" Her voice was cold, harsh.
Max blinked back tears in his own eyes. "I need to tell her--"
"No! You've done enough for one night! Just leave. If you care anything about her at all, just go and let Alex and I handle this mess!"
Max swallowed hard and his gaze dropped to the floor. He walked out the front door and stared at the star-filled sky. "I'm sorry, Liz," he whispered.