Title: Serendipity
Author: Mel
E-mail: LizParkerEvans@aol.com
Rating: PG-13
Category: M/L
Disclaimer: Roswell is owned by 20th Century Fox, Jason Katims and the rest of TPTB, and Melinda Metz. Dont sue me please.
Ser× en× dip× i× ty n. The faculty of happening upon fortunate discoveries when not in search of them.
Part 1
August 29, 1999. I’m Liz Parker and could things get more complicated?
A week ago I was just your average 16 year old teenage girl. But lately, things have just gotten out of control. Ever since Mom and Dad started to stress that school was coming up, Michael’s gotten distant. Actually, Michael’s been distant the past few years, but just more so lately.
I think he worries about how he’s different. That there’s no one else like him around. I tried to tell him yesterday that it doesn’t matter, that he’s still my brother and that I love him, different or not. Then he looked at me with those sad eyes that make my heart break and he said, "But I’m not really your brother."
After that he left down the fire escape and we haven’t seen him since. It’s only been twenty four hours, and he’s disappeared for longer, but I still worry. Because he really seemed to mean it.
I know Michael’s not REALLY my brother. I know that we found him ten years ago, wandering in the desert by himself and that since no one seemed to know who he was, Mom and Dad adopted him. I still remember that day so clearly in my mind. We were in the car, driving back to town from the Carlsbad caves where we’d been visiting Grandma. Dad saw something and he pulled over.
We all got out to look around and I walked away from them until I saw Michael, hunched behind a rock. He looked scared, so I smiled and held out my hand to him. I didn’t think he would take it, but something made him reach out and hold onto me tight, like I was his lifeline. He wouldn’t leave my side for days, he slept on my floor and followed me around like a puppy. When Mom and Dad finalized the adoption, I was so happy. I had a brother.
Then, a few years back, Michael began to do strange things. I didn’t really notice at first. I thought the melted crayons had come from the hot sun and that the Christmas ornament I thought I’d broken must not have been the same one when I found it in perfect shape on the tree. I realized something about Michael was different when I hurt my arm playing softball and Michael sat with me, holding my arm until it tingled and the pain just went away.
When I asked him about it he looked at me in the eyes and I suddenly knew the answer without him saying a word. My brother is an alien.
It even sounds like a bad made for TV movie. He showed me his memories and what he knew and he showed me the things he’d done with his powers. And how he’d kept it all hidden, and how he was trusting me with his secret. And he showed me all of this without saying a word to me out loud.
Later he made me promise not to tell Mom and Dad, and I understood. I mean, we live in Roswell, New Mexico, the UFO mecca of the world. If anyone did believe him, I would lose him forever. And I couldn’t deal with that because even though he sometimes pushes Mom and Dad away, I know that we are his family. He just doesn’t like the idea of being different. Somehow he’s been able to find the strength to tell Maria and Alex, our two best friends, but he can’t tell his own parents.
Our second year of high school starts tomorrow and besides worrying about Michael, there’s my parents. They expect so much of me and Michael, and when he doesn’t always do exactly what they want, a fight usually breaks out. That’s when Michael retreats to the desert or the woods. I know he’ll come back, but I still wonder where exactly he is.
And then there’s Kyle.
Kyle Valenti is the guy that I was interested in right around when school ended. We’ve done a few things together over the summer, but I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s not my type. Except, according to Maria, Kyle thinks I’m EXACTLY his type. Apparently we’re almost married with two kids in his mind. I’ll deal with that tomorrow.
Liz looked up as the phone by her chair rang. She quickly picked it up before it finished ringing the first time.
"Hello?" she asked breathlessly.
"What, were you sitting on the phone?" Maria asked, her voice amused. Liz let out a disappointed sigh.
"No, I just thought you might be Michael," Liz admitted.
"He’s still not back?" Maria asked, her voice concerned.
"No, he’s not. And you’d be the second to know," Liz reminded Maria. Michael and Maria had a close friendship, and Liz knew that Michael would go to her right after he would make sure that she knew he was fine.
"Has Alex heard from him?" Maria asked, since Alex was Michael’s best friend.
"No, he hasn’t, at least as far as I know. Have you talked to him lately?" Liz asked hopefully.
"Actually, I just hung up with him before I called you. He called to tell me about his new neighbors across the street. I guess Philip and Diane Evans are back in town with their two kids," Maria said.
"Really? My parents should be happy, they were close friends with them before they left for Aspen ten years ago. Their kids are adopted, aren’t they?" Liz asked.
"I think so. We never met them, remember? The adoption was going through just as they were leaving town and they never went to our school. I know that they’re both our age, and that their names are Max and Isabel. And I can tell that Alex is already smitten with Isabel," Maria smirked.
"So, I guess they’ll be starting at West Roswell tomorrow," Liz mused.
"Alex said that he got to talk to Max for a few minutes. Very quiet, but here’s the best part: Alex said that when he did actually speak that he said he liked science. I tried to get Alex to tell me if Max is hot, but he wouldn’t give me any kind of real answer," Maria pouted. Liz laughed.
"Of course not! He was probably too busy staring at Isabel anyway. I better go before my Mom catches me on the phone. You’re picking me up tomorrow for school, right?" Liz asked.
"Yep, 7:30 sharp! And hopefully I’ll be picking up Michael too. I’m getting Alex right before you and we can all ride in together," Maria said. Liz nodded and said goodnight before she hung up the phone.
Sighing, she closed her journal with a thud and leaned into her room, placing it on her dresser. She was about to crawl into the window when she heard a scuffling noise coming from her fire escape. Her head whipped around and she ran to the edge, whispering as loud as she could without waking her parents.
"Michael!"
"Shhh!! I’m coming up," he replied from below in the street. Liz breathed a sigh of relief and stepped back, allowing him to climb up to the balcony. She hugged him briefly before she stepped back, wrinkling her nose a little.
"Geez Michael, you smell like a skunk. Where have you been?" she asked, waving her hand in front of her nose. Michael grinned at her, his smile lopsided.
"I missed you too sis. I was in the woods. Ran into some furry critters. Are Mom and Dad still up?" He asked, glancing through her window into the dark house.
"No, they went to bed about an hour ago. I had to close the Crashdown tonight all by myself because you weren’t here," Liz reminded him, referring to the restaurant their parents owned and they both worked in. Michael looked downcast and slightly guilty.
"I’m sorry. I just had to get out of here for a little while. I’m glad they aren’t up, I can’t deal with all the questions," Michael said softly.
"I know, but I think they might listen," Liz implored. He shook his head.
"No, they wouldn’t. They want me to be someone I’m not, and I can’t be that person for them. And they can’t know who I really am. It’s just so lonely, feeling like I’m the only one," Michael replied. Liz took his hands in hers and looked at him in the eye.
"I can’t even imagine what that might be like, but you aren’t alone. You have me, Mom, Dad, Maria and Alex. Just think how much lonelier you’d be if we hadn’t stopped on the highway that night," Liz said. Michael shuddered at the thought and nodded.
"I know I’m lucky, but I sometimes wonder if there’s something or someone else out there, you know?" he replied. Liz nodded and followed his eyes to the bright stars in the sky. And she wondered, like she often did at night, if one of those stars belonged to her brother. Then she fixed her gaze back at him.
"Don’t you think maybe they would understand better if you told them the truth?" she asked softly. When Michael shook his head, she prodded deeper.
"But you were able to tell Maria and Alex. Why can’t you tell Mom and Dad?" she questioned. When Michael looked her in the eye, she caught the sad expression.
"You know the saying, you can choose your friends, but not your family? That’s kind of how it feels to me. I told Maria and Alex because I trust them and they accept me even though I’m different," Michael replied. Liz nodded slowly.
"But Michael, Mom and Dad did choose you. They found you, they brought you home and they made you a part of our family. They didn’t have to, but they did. Just remember that, ok?" she whispered, squeezing Michael’s arm. He nodded and gave her a brief hug.
"Thanks Lizzie, you always see things like nobody else," he replied. Liz smiled at her brother and pushed him towards the fire escape.
"Now go and let Maria know you’re ok, and then come straight home. We’ve got school tomorrow," she said. Michael winked at her and slid down the stairs. Liz sighed and climbed into her window, leaving her candles lit for when Michael came home, so he could find his way.
Max Evans sifted through the box on his bed, trying to find his backpack for the next day. The first day of school. He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. He looked up at his reflection in the mirror and narrowed his eyes.
He knew he looked normal. From his broad shoulders to his two arms and two legs he looked like the average teenager. But he knew he was different, and this town they’d moved back to was a constant reminder of that fact.
Roswell, New Mexico. Isabel had been excited about moving back, because she thought they could find out more about their past, but Max hadn’t wanted to be reminded every single day that the world he called home, the people he called his parents, weren’t his parents and earth wasn’t his home. He even tried to deny the snippets of memories that he did have of their home planet. He filed them away and ignored Isabel when she talked about the crash, about if there were others out there. He didn’t want to be an alien, he wanted to be anything but what he was.
Max closed his eyes and listened to the slight breeze whispering by outside his open window. He couldn’t ignore the almost electric feeling in the air, how it seemed to be signaling to him. Something was coming, something bigger than destiny, something more like fate. Isabel said it was destiny that brought them back to Roswell, that they were meant to discover the truth about themselves. Max pushed his thoughts aside and looked up as Isabel breezed into his room, giving the clutter a quick glance.
"Moving a bit slow Max?" she asked. Max threw a pillow at his sister and she caught it easily, her face breaking out into a grin. Max smiled a little to himself, the guys at West Roswell High had no idea what was about to hit them with Isabel Evans about to enroll in school. He knew his sister very pretty, and he knew that she often used it to her advantage. She always got what she wanted, in one way or another.
"You know, Alex from across the street said he knows a girl just like you, totally into science and stuff," Isabel hinted. Max shrugged, not really interested. As much as he wanted to be a normal guy with a girlfriend, he couldn’t get past how hard it was to get to close to people. If he got too close, they might find out who he really was.
"Alex said he’d introduce us to his friends tomorrow at school. So, tomorrow we leave at 7:30, right?" she asked. Max nodded and turned back around to do some more unpacking. He heard Isabel sigh behind him as she left, quietly closing the door behind her. She knew he was unhappy about the move to Roswell. Aspen was their home. He didn’t walk down the street in Aspen and run into five alien-themed tourist attractions within a two block radius. He didn’t feel like all eyes were on him in Aspen. He felt like everyone would look at him and just know their secret. He shuddered at the thought, knowing that they had to be careful, that no one could know the truth.
Falling back on his bed, he tamped down the anticipation he felt. It was nothing, new school, new house, that was all. Nothing was coming, he tried to tell himself. Nothing that might change his life he thought out loud, realizing that even as he tried to convince himself, he didn’t believe it.
Part 2