Dreamwalk r-3

by Paul Ruoitis

  «Doesn't seem like he has much of a choice," Michael said as he continued to flip burgers. «It has been a couple months since Alex died.» Then he added, «And since Tess left.»

  «That's not what this is about," Max said.

  «Isn't it?» Michael asked, already knowing the answer. «Your son's probably been born by now, right?»

  «If Tess was telling the truth when she said her alien pregnancy would only last a month," Max reluctantly conceded, «then, yes, I have a son.»

  «We'll get him back, Maxwell," Michael said, ignoring the food for a moment. He put his hand on his friend and leader's shoulder to stress his words. «I promise you.»

  «I know," Max agreed without a doubt in his mind. «But then what?»

  «Then we raise him," Michael replied.

  «You and me?» Max asked, only partially joking. «How do I raise a hybrid human/alien child? I'm a child myself.»

  «Max, you haven't been a kid since we came out of the pods when we were six," Michael reminded him. «You've been an adult your entire life. Hell, you were an adult even before this life.»

  «It's just…," Max started.

  «Are you going to hide in here all night?» Maria asked accusingly as she blew into the kitchen with Liz trailing her silver platform heels. Her song apparently over, Max assumed that she was probably angry her boyfriend had missed hearing her sing.

  «I'm helping Max deal with his intense issues over fatherhood," Michael said, largely to change the subject to get Maria off the path that she was about to take him down once again.

  «Thanks, Michael," Max said, wishing that his personal issues could have remained personal for just a while longer. Immediately, he saw a familiar look of concern in Liz's eyes. He had been hoping to spare her his problems for at least this night. Max tried not to get angry with Michael for using their private conversation as a distraction for Maria, but it wasn't easy.

  «Besides," Michael added. «I'm cooking.»

  «Looks done to me," Maria said as she eyed the burgers. «Well-done, in fact. Come on, we can bring the food out while my mom does her Earth Mother performance art piece.»

  «Can't miss that," Michael sarcastically replied as he started flipping the burgers onto some buns. Maria helped out by removing the French fries from the deep fryer and pouring them onto a serving platter. Silence hung in the room as they finished getting the food ready, and Liz waited to follow up on the question she had been wanting to ask since she and Maria walked into the room to Michael's less than warm response.

  With all the food on its respective serving trays, Michael and Maria silently made their way out to the dining room area, leaving their friends behind in the kitchen.

  «Do you want to talk about it?» Liz asked as soon as the kitchen door swung closed.

  «Not tonight," Max said. «Tonight, I get to be here for you for once instead of the other way around.»

  There was a pause as Max's words hung in the air.

  «Okay, we both know that's not going to work," Liz said, smiling at him. «So why don't you just cut to the chase and tell me what's wrong?»

  «Why can't anyone just let me wallow in my pain?» Max asked rhetorically.

  «Because the last time you did that, you got drunk with Kyle off one sip of alcohol and totally crashed my blind date from Hell," Liz said, reminding him of one of his less than stellar evenings from well over a year ago. «Spill it.»

  «Just having some fatherly regrets," he said.

  «We'll get him back," Liz said, mustering up support for him even though she was talking about a child that he shared with Tess.

  «Like 1 told Michael, that's not the problem.» Once again, his gaze leaped to Mr. Whitman, who was still on the dance floor twirling his wife in circles.

  «It's what to do with him once he gets here?» Liz correctly assumed.

  «I look at Alex's dad and I can't imagine dealing with that kind of pain," Max said. «His son was living this life that he knew nothing about and eventually it killed him, and his father will never know the truth.»

  «Maybe someday-," Liz started hopefully.

  «Then I think of me and my dad," Max unintentionally cut her off. «Things are never going to be truly honest between us, because I can't share with him the most important part of my life. Even so, I know when I need him, he'll be there for me. I don't know if I have that kind of strength.»

  «Of course you do," Liz said.

  «Do I?» Max truly wondered. «Think of Sheriff Valenti raising Kyle on his own. The two of them are so close. Will I ever be that close to my son?»

  «Kyle's mom left them over a decade ago," Liz reminded him. «They didn't have a choice. They only had each other.»

  «How am I ever going to have that kind of bond with my son after I get him back from his mother-a woman who murdered one of our closest friends? How do I explain everything to him when I don't understand it myself?»

  Max knew that Liz was holding her feelings for Alex at bay so she could help him with his problem, and the knowledge was making him feel even worse.

  «I don't know," she said honestly. «But I do know that you'll make a great dad. You're a born leader. Literally. How hard could fatherhood be compared with ruling a planet?»

  «That's a bit of a jump," Max said.

  «True, but it's the best I can do right now.» Liz's face lit up. «Hey, I've got an idea. For once, we have a conveniently timed crisis. My parents arranged for me to go to Artesia this weekend to baby-sit their friends' son Jason while his parents go out of town. Why don't you come along? It will give you a chance to spend some time in charge of a twelve-year-old boy.»

  «I don't think our parents would like us spending the weekend alone together," Max reminded her.

  «So we don't tell them," Liz said. «It certainly won't be the first secret we've kept from them. And we won't be alone. Jason will be there, and he won't say anything to anyone.»

  «I don't know.»

  «Doesn't matter," Liz replied bluntly. «You're going.»

  As if to add a formal end to their conversation, Michael came back into the kitchen. «Max, your sister's looking for you," he said, carrying the now empty serving trays. «Has Liz solved your problem yet?»

  «Almost," Liz replied. «I was just…»

  But before she could finish her sentence, the back door slammed open and shut.

  Concerned, Liz, Max, and Michael moved from the kitchen to the back room. There, they found Kyle still wearing his blue work overalls, breathing heavily and looking rather pale.

  «Wow," Michael said. «You look like crap.»

  2

  «There you are," Isabel exclaimed with relief as she found her brother in the back room. «Come on, we're up next.» She plopped a baseball cap on his head and grabbed him by the arm.

  «Isabel, wait," he tried to say, but she ignored him.

  «Whatever end-of-the-world situation we're in the middle of, it can wait.» She pulled him to the door. «We're doing this.»

  It was now the time for Isabel to pay her respects to the one boy who had truly loved her, even though she had pushed him aside-not because she didn't want him, but because she didn't want him to be hurt. But he had been hurt-killed-and since she couldn't change the past, she was going to do her best to honor him in the present.

  «Isabel-," Kyle started to say as she pushed the still swinging door back open.

  «Hey, Kyle," she replied before he could say anything else. «Glad you made it in time for our skit.» Then she and Max were out of the kitchen.

  «I'm not going to miss this one," Michael said as he followed.

  Alone with her ex-boyfriend, Liz asked the obvious: «What's wrong?»

  «Nothing," he replied unconvincingly.

  «Are you sure?» she asked. «Michael was right. You don't look too well.»

  «Lack of sleep," he replied curtly. «We should get out there.» Kyle didn't give Liz a chance to respond and he headed out to the cafe part of the Crashdown and too
k a seat with his dad.

  Isabel stepped into the glow of the small spotlight that was also borrowed from the school AV closet. She had gone to the school over the weekend with Max and Michael to pick everything up. Granted, it hadn't actually been a faculty sanctioned visit to the school, nor did they technically have permission to borrow the equipment, but it was for a good cause. Besides, with classes out for the summer, they didn't know how else to get inside, and they fully intended to return the equipment before anyone would even miss it.

  Wearing a baseball cap of her own, she waited while her brother helped Ms. DeLuca clean the glitter, confetti, and pork rinds that she had spilled out during her performance art piece. It had been actually a poignant tribute, although Isabel still didn't understand how the pork rinds fit in.

  Using the extra time, Isabel went over the routine in her head once again. She had convinced her brother to perform the comedy skit with her by explaining that Alex had loved old-time vaudeville comedians, especially

  Abbott and Costello. He had even managed to drag Isabel to the annual Roswell Weekend Classic Comedy Movie Marathon at the Palace Theatre last year. He had always been trying to get her to see classic cinema, and she was glad now that at least once, she had given in to him. At first, she had questioned her own idea to do a comedy sketch at a memorial service, but Liz had supported her by agreeing that it totally fit in with the evening's theme. In tribute, she chose Abbott and Costello's famous «Who's on First?» routine to perform for the group.

  Ms. Deluca had finally managed to get all the remnants of her performance off the floor, which allowed for Isabel to step up to the microphone. She took a deep breath before speaking her memorized introduction.

  «Alex loved to laugh," she said to the crowd of friends. «Even in times of crisis, he would come up with some totally out-of-place comment that would always break the tension. With that in mind, my brother and I would like to perform one of his favorite comedy routines, altered slightly to meet the abilities of the performers.»

  Taking a moment to get accustomed to the audience, Isabel couldn't help but wish that there were a couple more familiar faces looking on. Naturally, she missed Alex and wanted him back more than anything, but she had also hoped that Jesse Ramirez could have been there as well.

  She had only recently begun dating the handsome young lawyer from her dad's firm, but somehow she knew that they were destined to be together forever. Of course, forever was going to have to wait until such time that she could actually tell someone they were dating. Things were

  just too complicated right now for her to explain that she was falling in love with someone while still mourning Alex's death. And things would be even more complicated when the time came that she would have to introduce Jesse into her crazy alien life. For now, she wanted to enjoy her time as a recent high school graduate and the life of a seemingly normal teen. As long as she and Jesse kept their secret, she would always have one very important part of her life that was blissfully normal.

  «So… I recently bought a baseball team," Max said, standing beside her on the makeshift stage.

  Immediately pulled from her musings into the real world, Isabel caught the end of her brother's cue. «Oh really," she said. «I love baseball players. So, tell me the names of the guys on your team.»

  «Well," Max said as he began the comedic part of the classic skit. «Who's on first-"

  «That's what I want to know," Isabel interrupted, pretending to be confused.

  «And that's why I'm telling you," Max said in a mock stern voice. «If you'll just listen to me.»

  «Okay," Isabel replied. «Who's on first?»

  «Exactly.» Max gave a sharp nod of his head.

  Isabel squinted her eyes in an effort to act confused. «What?»

  «He's on second," Max replied.

  «Who's on second?» Isabel asked.

  «No," Max corrected her with a forced tone of annoyance. «Who's on first.» They received their first restrained chuckle from the audience. Somehow dancing came easier than laughing, but they were beginning to get into the routine.

  «I don't know!» Isabel replied, pretending to get annoyed.

  «He's on third base," Max said to the first real laugh from the audience.

  Isabel loved hearing the laughter because it made everything all right for at least a little while. More importantly, she finally got the joke herself. When Alex had dragged her to the classic movie marathon she had laughed at the funny parts, but she'd never really understood why laughing was so important. In her life, between being chased by the FBI and fighting off an attack from the Skins, there often seemed so little to laugh about. She finally understood the power of humor and why Alex always seemed to have a joke or a lighthearted comment ready just when she needed it most.

  But as she looked out to the crowd, she realized that someone wasn't laughing. At first, she had noticed Kyle because he seemed to be nodding off during the show. Not only did Kyle look like he was struggling to stay awake during their skit, but he seemed intent on it, and not just for the sake of being polite. What's going on with Kyle? she asked herself. He has a look of… terror?

  Isabel made a mental note to ask him about it later, because she needed to concentrate on the last bit of wordplay involved or else she was going to blow the joke entirely.

  «So, let me get this straight," she said, gearing up for the finale. «The ball is thrown to Who. But, whoever it is at first drops the ball and the runner heads to second. So, Who picks up the ball and throws it to What. What throws it to I Don't Know. I Don't Know throws it back to Tomorrow.

  Triple play. Then, say another guy gets up and hits a long fly ball to Because. Why? I don't know He's on third and I don't give a darn!

  «What?» Max asks, going in for the capper.

  «I said I don't give a darn!» Isabel replied, acting exhausted by it all.

  «Oh, that's our shortstop.»

  Uproarious laughter filled the Crashdown, and Isabel found herself giggling right along with everyone. The evening was turning out to be just what they all needed. A night to remember Alex fondly, without alien worries interfering. They had come together to provide support for one another as they began to distance themselves from Alex's death. Although he would never be forgotten, this was the right time for his friends to start the healing and eventual moving on. Everyone seemed to be having a great time.

  Everyone but Kyle.

  Making their way out of the spotlight, Isabel and her brother accepted the adulation and pats on the back from their audience. Liz stepped up to hug Max, giving him the kind of warm kiss that Isabel had not seen them share in quite some time. For the briefest moment, she was jealous of the fact that she couldn't be so public with the guy she was seeing. But, the trade-off for her clandestine relationship with Jesse was well worth the few pangs of regret.

  Setting her sites on Kyle, Isabel continued through the crowd as the band took the stage for another short set. Kyle was looking down at his glass of soda, transfixed by it. Beside the glass, his fingers drummed a repetitive beat.

  Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap.

  Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap.

  Isabel remembered when Liz explained that the tapping fingers were some kind of side effect experienced by people that Tess had mindwarped. It had happened to Maria's mom after Tess had forced her to forget a particularly confusing evening at the UFO Center. When Ms. DeLuca had started to remember things, her fingers would drum on the counter. It had also happened when Kyle remembered the horrible things that Tess had made him forget. But Maria had been keeping tabs on her mom, and reported that Ms. DeLuca had stopped tapping her fingers weeks ago. Why hasn't Kyle?

  «So what, your soda's more interesting than our skit?» Isabel asked, smiling.

  Apparently unaware of the fact that she was speaking to him, Kyle took a moment before he looked up at her. «Oh, no… no. I was just… thinking.» «Is something wrong?» she asked, about to take a seat. «Yes," he replied, standing
. «Can we go somewhere and talk?»

  Without waiting for an answer, Kyle started heading for the back of the cafe as the band struck up yet another cheerful tune. They had exhausted their entire repertoire of original songs in the first set and had moved on to top-forty hits. Oddly, however, Maria had not joined them again.

  Dutifully, Isabel followed Kyle, concerned for her friend. Unfortunately, when the pair walked into the back room of the Crashdown, they came right in on the middle of another one of Michael and Maria's love spats, which explained the singer's momentary absence from the stage.

  «And look at your jeans!» Maria said in a tone of voice that was just short of yelling, not wanting to disturb the party in the other room.

  «Oh, now you're going to insult my clothing?» Michael shot back in his usual sarcastic, defeatist tone.

  «Black!» she slammed her locker door for effect. «It was the one color Liz specifically asked us not to wear. And look at you. Black jeans. Was it that difficult of a rule to understand? Should I have brought a color wheel by to explain what would have been an appropriate hue?»

  «Sorry I don't own an extensive wardrobe," he said by way of an explanation. «I wore what was clean. Besides, I think you're wearing enough colors in that outfit for the both of us.»

  «I'm sorry," Kyle mumbled as he started to back out the door.

  Isabel, however, was having none of that tonight. «Can't you two just put your petty little arguments on hold for one evening? It's really gotten way past the point of cute lovers' quarrels. Maria, why don't you go out there and sing some more with the band. Michael, you go watch her.»

  Without another word, Michael and Maria left the room in a huff. As soon as they were out the door, Isabel laughed to herself. «Some people express their love for each other in the strangest ways.»

  «Yeah," was the only response Kyle could muster.

  «Okay, Kyle, spill it.»

  He took a deep breath, as if stalling for time to either convince himself to speak or to brace himself for Isabel's reaction for what he was about to say. «You remember the