Part Twenty-Seven

To Liz, it felt surreal to return to Roswell, the small town she’d grown up in, a town that suddenly seemed to be alien to her.

Everything she had believed to be true had changed the moment she’d found Max in the alley behind the Crashdown. In a matter of weeks, she had never been so scared and yet so happy, all at the same time. And now, all she had left was heartbreak.

Max was a gift, a miracle that had been ripped from her before she truly began to understand how extraordinary it was.

And now she was left merely an empty shell, save the constant burn at her throat that reminded her of what was once hers. She had ended his life. Common sense told her that he had made that decision in order to save her life, but that thought only made her feel worse. His life was so much more important than hers and there was so much more at stake now that he was gone. She felt a darkness rising in her heart, a chasm that seemed to grow deeper with every passing minute.

But she forced herself to push that emptiness aside for the moment, for the next few hours would be critical.

As John drove them through town, it struck Liz how little had changed here. People went about their daily business, completely ignorant of the horrible acts their government had been committing right under their noses.

Would they understand if they knew? She wasn’t sure.

She didn’t think she would ever come to terms with the cruelties that had been committed against Max, Isabel and Michael by her fellow man.

Their kind was chosen by the Granolith as its guardians for their gentle and compassionate nature, which made the manner in which they were treated here even more devastating.

Her small-town life was about to become big news, for the key to success in shutting down the Special Unit was the story she would relay regarding her disappearance.

The thought of all the questions, and all of the details she would have to remember in order to make this work seemed overwhelming when she stopped to think about it. But now, her thoughts were once again on Max, and the deep-seated ache in her soul at his loss.

She wanted to hide in her room and lick her wounds, but she wouldn't have that luxury in the near future. But if it meant that the Special Unit would be dismantled, well then, it would be worth it.

She would not even consider failure. Through everything Alex and Maria had stuck with her, and she'd be damned if she'd let another branch of the Unit come into being. She had to count on the droids doing their job correctly, and she had no doubt that they would. There was no way she was going to let Alex and Maria be subjected to prodding, tests, and questions just because they'd been in the presence of Max, Michael and Isabel.

The lights of the Crashdown Café came into view, and she felt a lump form in her throat at the thought of seeing her parents, of having to lie to them. How she wanted to sit with her father and tell her about the amazing boy she'd fallen in love with, a boy who had come millions of miles through space, a King who had been reborn and lost here without anyone even knowing about it.

But she couldn't do that. She knew that he wouldn't understand. She wasn't sure if she would believe it if she hadn't lived it herself.

She stared at the restaurant with its warm, inviting glow.

It was here where everything began, and so it seemed fitting that it would end here too, where she'd first found Max.

"Liz, are you sure you're up for this? Do you need more time?" John asked, looking in his rearview mirror at Liz. Alex turned from the passenger seat to look at her, his eyes filled with concern.

Liz, Maria and Alex had not had the chance to talk about what had happened since they'd left the chamber, not wanting to discuss anything in front of John. As much as she hated it, she didn't feel she could completely trust him any longer, with his ties to the Antarian supporters.

Liz lifted her chin with determination.

"I'll be fine. I know what to do," she said, and Maria squeezed her hand.

"We all know what to do," Maria added, looking at Alex.

"Ok," John said, taking a deep breath as he pulled up in front of the Crashdown.

"Here goes nothing."

*****

When Liz walked into the restaurant with Maria and Alex, Nancy Parker, who had been cleaning the counter, stumbled backward against the milkshake machine.

"Liz?" she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

"Mom," Liz sobbed, and ran into her mother's arms. Everything that had happened to her over the past weeks suddenly hit her, and she buried her head in her mother's shoulder, wanting nothing more than the comfort of her embrace.

"God, we were thinking the worst, we thought...you'd been gone so long, we..." she stammered her hand smoothing her daughter's hair, tears streaming down her face.

She looked up to see Maria and Alex standing with John.

"Kids, are you all right?" she asked, looking at them with her worried eyes. Still she didn't take her arms from her daughter. She motioned them over and enfolded them in the hug with Liz.

"I'll just go find Jeff," John said. "We're going to need to make a few phone calls."

Nancy nodded.

******

Liz hadn't realized how much she'd missed her father until he rushed from the apartment upstairs, pulling her into a hug.

The devastation of losing Max was heavy on her mind, but seeing her parents dulled it for a short time.

The first calls were made to Alex's parents and Maria's mother, who had dropped the phone and ran from her store, not even bothering to lock the doors.

She'd been hysterical when she'd burst through the doors, holding onto Maria as if she were afraid she was going to disappear again. It had taken everything Nancy and Jeff had to calm her down.

Alex's parents were much more subdued, though Liz could see the tears shining in his parent's eyes as Alex calmly relayed the story they'd all agreed on. They weren't going to tell any of their parents the truth. It was better to keep them out of it, and out of danger.

It wasn't long after their tearful reunion with their parents, that Sheriff Valenti was called, and consequently, the FBI, which they'd been counting on.

"So let me get this straight, Miss Parker. You're saying you were kidnapped...by the FBI?" The Sheriff said, his brow furrowed.

Liz nodded.

"Yes. They kept me against my will with at least three other kids," she said.

"Why?" The Sheriff asked, skeptically.

"Because I helped one of the boys," she said, tears filling her eyes once more at the thought of Max's condition when she'd first found him.

At that moment, the Pierce droid walked through the front doors with a clone of Agent Jeffrey, flashing badges at the deputy posted there.

Her fearful look wasn't really an act. The sight of Pierce still filled her with terror and loathing for what he'd done to all of them, even knowing that it wasn't truly him.

Liz and Maria backed up to stand behind her father, who looked at her with concern.

"What's the matter sweetie?" he asked.

"It's him," Liz whispered, and Maria squeezed her hand.

"He's the one that was after us!" Maria said in a loud voice, pointing at Pierce. "He tried to kill us!"

For an instant the Sheriff seemed skeptical, but when he looked at the girls stricken faces, and then to Alex, who nodded slowly, the Sheriff turned toward Pierce.

"Identify yourself, Sir," Valenti said.

"Special Agent David Pierce," the droid replied, pulling his badge out for the Sheriff's inspection.

Valenti studied the identification for a moment, and then handed it back.

"We have special dispensation to handle this case," the droid said, turning hard eyes on Liz. "We're taking her in for questioning."

"Sheriff, please...I can't go with him!" Liz said, hoping her pleading gaze directed at him was convincing enough. Everything was riding on it.

The Sheriff's eyes softened and he turned back to the droid.

"Agent, these kids are under my jurisdiction and protection ," he said.

A cold smile crossed the droid's face.

"Sheriff, you don't want to start interfering with the government," the droid said.

"From what these kids have been saying, you're the one who's been interfering," Valenti answered. "As far as I know, it isn't legal to detain a citizen without proper cause."

"We had cause," the droid answered, his eyes narrowing.

"And what cause would that be?" the Sheriff asked, with a raised brow.

"We aren't at liberty to disclose that," the droid answered after a pause.

"Well, until you do, I think it would be best if the kids stayed here," the Sheriff replied.

"You don't have the authority..." the droid began to argue.

"Let's put it this way," the Sheriff interrupted. "I haven't heard their full account yet, but judging from what I do know, it sounds like the proper channels weren't used. These kids are accusing you of an illegal detainment, and I'm not going to turn them over if there's even the slightest chance that it's true. So you can go back to the Agency and get the proper paperwork, but I can tell you right now, if any of what they're telling me jives, I'll go to the press so fast, your head will spin. So send whoever gave you the dispensation to come and have a chat with me."

The droid glowered at the Sheriff.

"This isn't finished," the droid growled.

"Oh I don't doubt it," the Sheriff said with a nod.

The droid turned on his heel and left the restaurant, with the Jeffrey clone close behind.

The Sheriff waited until he was out the door to speak to his Deputy.

"Hansen," he barked. "How did that information get to the Bureau?"

Hansen looked at him indignantly.

"All kidnappings go to the Bureau. I contacted them when dispatch received the call that the Parker girl was back," he answered.

"From here on out, no calls without my say-so," Valenti said.

"Yes Sir," Hanson replied, the look on his face clearly saying the he didn't appreciate the reprimand.

"Thank you Sheriff," Liz said in a soft voice.

"I'd like to hear the rest of your account Miss Parker," Valenti said. "You said you helped one of the boys..."

She nodded.

"One night the FBI came knocking at the door of the restaurant, with a photo of a boy, saying he'd murdered a mother and daughter in Albuquerque," she said. "I'd never seen him, and I told them so."

"When the Agents left, I went into the back room, and someone was back there. It was the boy. His name was Max," she said in a pained voice.

"He...ran when I tried to speak to him. He was just as scared as I was," she said.

"Why didn't you call me?" the Sheriff asked.

"Because, I just had this feeling that something was off. I didn't think he'd done what they said he had. They'd told me that the story was in the papers, about the murder, but there was nothing," she said. "And they didn't come to you either, to let you know they were in town, right? Don't they do that as a courtesy?"

The Sheriff nodded, but said nothing further, waiting for Liz to continue.

"A few nights later, I found Max in the shed in the alley," she said. "He was in such bad shape, I...I couldn't just leave him there. But one of the Agents showed up, and he told me to leave the shed. I did...I was scared. But I heard the Agent...Jeffrey was his name, tell Max that he was going to kill him. I saw what they'd done to him, and Max wasn't fighting Jeffrey. Jeffrey said he had the other kids and he didn't need Max and that he was going to kill him. I couldn't let him. I hit him over the head from behind, and knocked him unconscious, and I brought Max upstairs," she said.

She had left out the fact that she'd killed Jeffrey. The clone would ease any suspicions of foul play.

"The things they'd done to him...they were horrible. Max had a chip surgically implanted into his chest so that they could track him. That's how Pierce found him in my room. He had me at gunpoint, and he brought Max and I back to the Eagle Rock base," she said.

"Why was this kid Max so important to them?" the Sheriff asked.

Liz took a trembling breath.

"He and the other two, had...special abilities. They'd been taken from their parents when they were small children, when the Bureau convinced them they were dangerous," she said.

"Well the FBI must have had reason to think that," the Sheriff said. "Maybe they were dangerous."

"They would never hurt anyone," Liz said, shaking her head. "They were tortured there, experimented on because they could move things just by thinking about it."

"At first, they told me they were holding me because they'd said I'd killed that Agent, Jeffrey, but you saw him, he was just here with Pierce," she said, shuddering. "I found out the real reason. They wanted me to...mate with Max, to see if he carried a gene that could be passed on."

"Oh Lizzie," her mother said, tears forming in her eyes again. When Liz looked at her father, she saw anger and frustration written clearly in his eyes.

"They did all sorts of tests on me, and I was terrified. Max was traumatized. He'd spent his whole life there, and he felt responsible for them bringing me to the compound," she continued, tears in her eyes. "He had found a plan to get us out. I knew that if he escaped again, they would kill him if they caught him this time, but he wouldn't listen."

"I...I stole one of the technician's cell phone, and I called Alex. Max used his abilities to unlock the doors to get us out. Two of the other kids got out with us," she said.

"I asked Alex to wait outside the compound, and he'd brought Maria with him. When we escaped, the Agents came after us, and they shot the tires out on Alex's car. We headed out into the desert. We found a cave, and we'd hidden out there, but there was nowhere to go, and the FBI had surrounded the area," she said.

"There was no way out," she said. "Max and the others...they told us to leave, and they gave themselves up. I saw them captured. I don't know what happened to them. We ran," she said with a sob. "They were so caught up in catching the others, we were able to get away. We were afraid to call anyone, but finally Alex called Uncle John because he was closest...."

"It's all right Liz," the Sheriff said.

"Please, you have to get someone out there to the compound. They might still be there," she pleaded, knowing that her lie would be the only possibility of the Unit being exposed.

"That's a government facility," Valenti said, shaking his head. "There's no way we're going to get access."

"There's one way," Liz said grimly, looking up at the Sheriff.

******

That night, Liz crawled into her bed, alone finally to process her loss, the loss of Max. She'd blocked it out of sheer necessity, because everything had to go right.

She'd successfully convinced the Sheriff that Alex, Maria and John hadn't had any other part in it other than helping them in the desert.

If anything, it was she they would come after, not Alex and Maria. Not that it mattered much. Without Max she wasn't sure she really cared what happened to her. Was she just supposed to wait for this heir to come to find her, and wind up a prisoner to the bond she and Max had while he was alive?

The thought terrified her.

But she was sure she knew her heart well enough that she was certain that no one could ever come close to making her feel the way Max did. She would never love another. She was sure of it.

A broken sob fell from her lips, as she felt the absence of him as keenly as she could feel her heart beating. All she could feel was the emptiness, with only the heat at her throat to remind her of the miracle she'd experienced in the short time they were together.

The closeness she'd felt with him in that short time was unlike anything she'd ever known, and she craved it as she craved the very air she breathed. Surrounded by darkness, finally by herself, she felt as if she would suffocate from the pain that was twisting her heart.

She had killed him. God, how would she ever be able to live with that?

She hadn't told her parents about what she'd shared with Max. As far as they knew, they were merely captives together. She'd assured them that the experiments that were planned had never been executed. Other than that, what would have been the point of telling them anything more?

Max was dead, and with him went any belief that she would ever know true happiness, or ever feel whole again.

Her throat throbbed again painfully, and she sighed, her breath hitching. Throughout the day, it had been a constant presence, and now, when she touched the skin there, the mark rose through her skin. But now it felt different, cold, a reminder of what had been.

She would die before she bonded to another. If the heir came, then so be it. She belonged to Max, and only Max. The heir would release her from the bond, or she would release herself, whatever it took.