Alex’s Choice

By Angie

Rating: Mature

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!

One Parter

For Eraser Room Challenge

Summary: Starts with Liz and Alex in Jail…but goes a different direction.

April 25, 1999

Alex Whitman had never been in jail in his life. He knew there was a part of him that was a little wild, the part that watched The Breakfast Club and wished he could be as sneaky as the troublemaker, but really he was more like the Brain. He did what he was supposed to and for the past sixteen years he’d so far followed a very clean life. So how the hell did he wind up in the jail? Looking at the brunette accomplice sitting across from him in her own cell, Alex knew he had the answer.

Liz Parker, a.k.a. a girl with secrets that he knew included Max and Isabel Evans and Michael Guerin. Ever since December, she’d been hanging around them like glue. Alex didn’t normally push that much about things, but he thought that Liz would tell him about what was going on. She’d gone far enough to tell Maria, but so far neither one had bothered to tell him anything, except one whopper of a story after another, thinking he would buy into them.

Now that he was here, in jail of all places, at ten o’clock at night, Alex figured he was due to know what was going on. Moving to the edge of his cell, he looked at Liz and said, "You know Liz, now that we are here, in jail, and I’m part of this mess with you, I think it’s about time to tell me what’s going on. Don’t you?"

Liz wasn’t looking very confiding. In fact she looked like she was determined not to tell Alex the truth. She said, "Alex, I can’t tell you what’s going on…all I can say is that we’re here and we’re okay. We’re going to be okay."

Fear, anger, and hurt all peaking inside him had Alex hollering, "We’re in jail, Liz! Nothing is normal or okay about this situation." His breathing was just as outrageous as his tone of voice, but he couldn’t change that. He continued, "I wouldn’t be here tonight if it wasn’t for you hanging around those people and choosing to get me involved."

Lowering her voice, Liz said, "I know…Alex…and I’m sorry."

Alex let some of his anger leave as well as he said, "Liz it would just be nice if you’d be honest with me about this mess. I mean we are in this literally together now. I am your best friend…or I was."

Liz’s eyes were teary somewhat now, but she still refused saying, "I am still your best friend, Alex."

Alex walked away saying with a snort, "Right. That’s why I’m left in the dark whenever I’m around you and Maria, why I’m stuck here in a frigging cell at ten o’clock at night not knowing a thing about why. Liz you are anything but my best friend these days. I’m more like your pawn who looks things up for you and keeps secrets for you – secrets that I don’t know the meaning of since I’m not good enough to know them."

When he looked over at Liz this time, he saw she was wiping tears. But something inside Alex wasn't feeling as gullible as usual and he just couldn’t make himself take Liz’s crap anymore. He’d listened to her say over and over that she couldn’t tell him and every single time he tried to take that fact to heart, he thought of Maria and how she knew the truth. It just didn’t cut it anymore.

Liz said, "Alex, I’m sorry…"

Alex rolled his eyes and looking directly at Liz he said, "You know what Liz? We’ve been talking about this for awhile now and it’s obviously going nowhere. So I’m going to do something new."

Liz looked at Alex nervously as she asked, "What? What are you going to do?"

Alex kept a plain face and said, "I can’t tell you, it’s something that I can’t talk to you about."

Liz had said those words to Alex so many times she knew she’d mumbled them at night beneath her Alien covers. It didn’t seem to hurt though, instead it just pissed her off. She said flatly, "Fine, keep me out of it. But remember, Alex, if you decide to do something to hurt Max or Isabel or Michael then you have to live with it and so do they. I care about them, Alex."

Alex saw that Liz was upset and he felt just as irritated now as he said, "Apparently, you care a whole lot about them, Liz. You care so much that you’d go so far as to lie to me."

Liz glanced up in terror, Alex could tell it easily, knowing Liz. And she did what she always did, she struck him in the heart by her refusing to be honest.

Alex said, "Yeah, Liz, I know that you’ve been lying to me all along. So has Maria. I hate it because I thought you were friends of mine. Obviously, I was wrong. So from now on, I’m going to be doing my own thing when you come looking for a PC Wiz and you can figure out how to deal with your bullshit. I’m done, Liz."

Liz just stared as Alex climbed on the cot and went to sleep. Finally, he was done with that painful game of lies…

Alex wasn’t let out until nine AM the following morning when his dad came in and paid the fee. How his dad got Sheriff Valenti to let Alex out he had no clue, but he was glad to be out of there. Going home in the passenger seat of his dad’s Ford Plymouth was hard because his dad was quiet the entire time. He did his best to focus on what he’d decided to do. It did hurt to say goodbye to Liz, but it hurt more, he figured to stay and be her lapdog. From today on, Alex decided he’d be his own friend before he’d be lied to – and he wasn’t going to be so willing to trust anyone again. The process of friendships for ten years and then barren emptiness being friendless and feeling alienated was something Alex knew and had known for months, but he hoped he could get past it one day. Being his own friend had to be better than being deceived…

Tess Harding moved into Roswell and was there when Alex was in jail, going through his final stages with Liz. She was unpacking and listening to Nasedo go on about her choices and what she had to do. She blew him off like always. Nasedo may have become her guardian, but he wasn’t her real dad, nor did he have the right to boss her around like he tried to many times. Sitting on her new bed she looked at pictures from Montana, the state they moved from. She wished that things had been better there, but she wound up running from Nasedo and getting re-found by the jerk and then drug, literally drug to the car and to the plane and now here, in Roswell, New Mexico. Whatever this place was, it wasn’t what Tess was used to.

She felt alone from her friends, the few she did have, she knew were thousands of miles away. She’d had to lie to them all because of Nasedo, he’d forced her to keep it all quiet. Tess hated that continued lie about who she was. The truth was, she had no intention of finding Max Evans, wherever he was, and getting together with him. Tess didn’t’ want a king bossing her around! She wanted to be her own person and have her own choices. So when she looked around her room she decided then that she would do her own thing here. Things would not end up like they did back home. Tess was good and she wasn’t going to be that vindictive creature Nasedo wanted her to become.

Tess was forging forward with her own rules this time and she’d be damned if she’d let Nasedo try to change it!

~*~*~*~*

Alex walked into the high school that following Monday looking no different than on Friday, but he was. He walked to his locker more confidently and he grabbed his books and headed to class. When he walked into his Health class to take his test he saw a new girl there. Hmmm… wonder where she came from, he thought.

Sitting at his desk that he habitually sat at every day, Alex looked up at Mr. Gross and said, "So we still having the test today?" He asked because on Friday Mr. Gross talked about his printer rollers having problems and the possibility that it wouldn’t print his tests over the weekend.

Mr. Gross smiled and said with relief, "The test is still on for today, Alex. The rollers let me get thirty more pieces of paper out of it. I’m going to buy new rollers soon, just haven’t taken the time to order them yet."

Alex said, "You know you could always go online and order them, Mr. Gross. They have good deals there sometimes."

Mr. Gross furrowed and then sat on his desk saying, "You say that a lot. Where do you go on line?"

Alex told him the site. Mr. Gross wrote it down and said the best thing a teacher could say, "How much did they say they want for them?"

Alex smiled and walked over to Mr. Gross’s desk and logging on to the site he said, "Here. Check this out."

Mr. Gross looked and pleased he said, "Hmm. That’s a pretty good deal. Alex you were right. Thank you." He smiled and Alex smiled back. He looked up to Mr. Gross because he was so willing to work with the class and he was a good teacher. Alex was more than happy to help him out.

Going back to his seat, Alex opened his notes and started to review them when the blonde behind him said, "That was really nice to help him."

Alex turned around and smiled forcing himself to be nice but not too nice as he said, "Thanks…"

He turned back to the front and began to study.

Tess heard how blunt Alex sounded, but she had this feeling it wasn’t really Alex, but something he was doing because of some reason. Maybe because Tess was new. It could be he wasn’t very trusting. Roswell wasn’t the biggest area in the world and Tess wasn’t from here. Very literally not from here. She smiled to herself and then getting up she walked to the teacher and introduced herself as the "new girl."

At lunch, Alex took his tray of yuck to the table by a few freshmen, not minding at all that he was not around other sophomores in his class. Alex wasn’t that worried about looking out of place. Instead, he sat and opened his carton of chocolate milk and took a drink.

Remembering his laptop he picked it up and booted it as he took a bite of his nasty stew.

Meantime, Tess was going through the line and she saw Alex across the cafeteria from her. They were allowed an outside veranda lunch which was new to Tess since at her old school was all inside. This was much nicer, she thought. The sun was out and it was nice and warm on her skin as she walked across the cemented octagons and then the lawn, to the tables. She wondered if Alex would talk to her again. Maybe… but seeing his frown and his solid look at his PC she figured nope and found another table.

Her bag of food she brought was better by a million miles than the food on the trays of those out here, Tess thought. She sat at a loner table and opened her brown bag up. Inside was a PB & J sandwich. Yummy, she thought and then with her mind she created a box of fries to go with it. Hey, who said she couldn’t have a little enjoyment too? Smiling, she grabbed a few fries and grabbing Tobasco sauce, she dipped them in and took a bite.

~*~*~*~*~

A week later, Alex saw Tess again but this time banging against her locker. Those around just went on not caring. Alex glared at them and walked over to help. Alex said, "Hey? Would you like some help?"

Tess looked up and said frustratingly, "Uh! I like Roswell, but I had to get the worst locker in the school…it refuses to open no matter how many times I turn it left to right. I think they gave me the wrong combination for this locker."

Alex smiled and said, "Mind if I try?"

Shrugging figuring why not, Tess said, "Sure…I’ve got a headache anyway." She pushed her hand through her blonde hair vexed to the max. She said, "I’m going to be late to class again. I’ve been here a week so I doubt they’ll forgive me."

Alex asked what the combination was and then began to turn it around and around. Finally he opened the door and said, "You should be fine. The clocks are all ten minutes fast and teachers are usually late getting there. Here."

Tess looked at her open locker and said, "What did you do?"

Alex shrugged and said, "I just turned the lock around…" Seeing Tess’s frown he said, "But the lockers are hard sometimes to open."

Tess still was upset that she wasn’t able to open it herself, that she’d spent twenty minutes fighting it, but she grabbed her things and shut the door saying, "Sure…" Grinning she saw his smile, his broad attractive smile and she liked it.

Alex said, "You want to walk to class together?"

Tess looked at Alex in his blue jeans and red shirt and thought how sexy he looked. He wasn’t overly broad shouldered like a quarterback, but he was nice. Tess knew that he was honest with her and she liked that. So she smiled very confidently and said, "Yes, Alex, I’d like to walk with you."

As they walked, Tess said, "You know Roswell High has to be the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a Happy Days set, you know that?" She chuckled and added, "Everyone’s just so clannish and close, innocent acting."

Alex agreed, but then saw Liz talking with Maria and turning to Tess he said, "Some of us are, but unfortunately not everyone believes in being honest or trusting friends."

Tess briefly looked at Liz and Maria, then looking more up into Alex’s brown eyes, she looked with her abilities and said, "But you are, I can tell that you would keep a secret if you were told one."

Alex looked at Tess and was just a bit nervous at that statement. But he being Alex replied genuinely, "Yep, I’m pretty honest and I would keep a secret for a friend."

Nodding, Tess took Alex’s hand and said, "Come on."

Alex said, "Where we going?"

Tess took Alex outside and while no one was around, she said, "I’m going to tell you my secret, something that nobody has ever heard."

Alex freaked somewhat saying, "What is it?" He figured by her seriousness that it had to be pretty big. But though he was nervous inside, he was going to listen. He was an honest person and he did take secrets and hold them. He was happy that she trusted him, so being stronger he said, "What is your secret, Tess?"

Tess said plainly, "I’m not from around here, Alex."

Alex said, "I know, you’re from Montana. I envy you being able to go anywhere else by the way. You suck."

Tess laughed and said, "We could go to Montana, Alex. Right now."

Alex grinned slyly and said, "Sure we could."

Raising her eyes open wider she said, "You think I’m kidding?"

Alex just grinned and said nothing.

Taking his hands, she said, "Close your eyes, Alex."

Alex heard her seriousness and closed his eyes.

When he opened them, they were standing on a cliff with the mountains in front of them!

Alex said, "Holy shit! How…did we get here?"

Looking at Tess he was curious, shocked, and nervous.

Tess smiled and said, "Ta-da!"

~*~*~*~

Sitting with Tess on the cliffs, Alex said, "So wanna tell me how we got here?"

Tess looked over at Alex and said, "Yes, I would." Turning to Alex as they sat looking at one another, Tess said, "I’m not from here, Alex. I was born on a planet called Antar. I was sent in a ship with three other people, aliens, according to Nasedo, my guardian."

Alex said, "Would they be Max and Isabel Evans and Michael Guerin?"

Tess knew the names and knew they were the others and so she took a deep breath, knowing he could be laughing at her inside, that he could turn her in, but she trusted Alex and so she said, "Yes. Max, Isabel and Michael are my alien family, Alex. We were reborn here in pods."

Seeing his surprise, Tess said, "I know this is a huge shock and you probably think I’m crazy."

Shaking his head, Alex said, "Nope, I don’t. I believe you, I think it’s wild and cool, but I believe you."

Happy, Tess said, "You are special, Alex. Not many people would hear this and be calm and cool like you’re being. Most would freak out."

Alex chuckled, "Well I’m not showing the part of me that freaked out when I first got here. But you were honest with me, something my own friends refused to be." Looking off at the mountains, feeling the deception again in his heart, Alex said, "I wouldn’t tell a soul about who they were. All I wanted was to be included, to be told what was going on. All I got was a bunch of wild lies."

Tess felt bad knowing he had to feel like a fifth wheel. But she liked the fifth wheel in beside her. She looked at him and said, "Not anymore. Anything you want to know about us, you can ask me and I’ll tell you, Alex."

Alex asked questions and Tess answered them. They sat together on the cliffs and together watched the sun set. Alex had never seen a group of colors look more amazing as the ones that encased the sky that night presented. But Alex finally knew what a real friend was. A friend he could become serious with someday. He was glad to finally know the truth. Sitting with Tess that late afternoon, Alex Whitman felt good.

The End.