something from the archives: say goodbye - part 39

read up on how michael and liz got here in parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30,  31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, and 38.

part 39 continues after the jump.

Part 39

The next morning Liz awoke to the smell of waffles and hot chocolate. She pulled on a robe and walked out sleepily into the living room.

“Mom? Dad?” she called out, “Where are you guys?”

“In here darling,” her mother called out from the direction of the kitchen.

She walked into the kitchen unprepared for what she saw. Her mother’s pristine no-men-allowed kitchen was a disaster area. Bowls filled with creamy substances and sliced fruit, kitchen utensils, and an array of fruits, grains and syrups were spread across every available inch of counter space. Her mother, father and Michael stood in different corners mixing together ingredients or alternately cooking.

“What on Earth are you guys doing?” she asked.

“Hey baby,” Michael said as he casually walked over to her and kissed her good morning. Liz held him close before remembering that her parents were standing right there and pushed him back. Raising her eyebrows at the room’s occupants she wondered for a moment if she was dreaming.

“It’s your engagement breakfast honey,” her father said as he pressed a kiss against her cheek on his way to find something in the refrigerator.

“Really?”

“Your mom called me last night and asked if we wanted to have an engagement dinner, a formal thing, but I thought it would be nicer if we had something more casual, like a brunch with the group. So I called everyone up and asked them to come up here, instead of at the Crashdown.”

“Are they all coming? Do they know?”

“Yeah. Not everyone knows, the Evans, Amy and Sean, and the Sheriff don’t know.”

“But they’re coming.”

“Yeah, you don’t mind do you?”

“Michael, this is the sweetest thing you could have done. Mom, Dad, thanks for being so great you guys. I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”

“Well luckiest girl, go get dressed for a party.”

“But, don’t you guys need help?”

“Nope. This is for you. Go get dressed.”

Liz smiled at her family. Her parents and Michael, the people she loved most in this world and couldn’t help the tears that filled her eyes. Because they loved her too, she was beloved, precious, beautiful in their eyes. She was so lucky.

*****

When Liz came back out into the kitchen it was as if fairies had worked their magic, gone was the mess of ingredients and utensils and in its place stood a veritable feast. Arranged in the most appetizing way breakfast had never looked so good. Her parents had gone to change as well and walked into the room immediately after Liz.

“That boyfriend of yours can really work miracles Lizzie,” said her dad, “I mean when he said he had it under control, I didn’t realize it was so true. He’ll do right by you.”

“Michael is amazing.” Liz said in reply, her heart beating with the depth of her love for Michael. What he did for her was amazing. And Liz couldn’t wait to spend the rest of her life telling him that.

“Hey,” Michael said as he casually strolled into the room. He glanced at both Nancy and Jeff’s looks of comical amazement to Liz’s eyes, overflowing with love for him. And his heart flipped.

At that precise moment the doorbell rang, but Michael and Liz were too enraptured to pay attention to anything other than each other. Nancy answered the door and ushered in the guests, the Parker’s small apartment was soon overrun with conversation and laughter.

*****

The dishes cleared the entire group sat in the Parker’s living room with their steaming mugs of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. Jeff stood and clinking his spoon against his mug, he announced, “There’s something I wish to share with all of you. Nancy and I are moving to Santa Fe. We’ve been offered an incredible opportunity for expansion and we’re needed in Santa Fe.”

“Oh my God, Liz you’re moving!” shrieked Maria.

“No, no, Lizzie will be staying in Roswell. In fact that’s the other reason we’re here…to celebrate my Lizzie’s upcoming nuptials. She and Michael will be taking over the day to day running of the Crashdown.”

“Marriage?” asked Jim Valenti from his quiet corner. “Jeff, they’re so young.”

“I know. But they love each other, and they’re intent on it.”

Jim nodded at Jeff’s words, the rest of the company coming out of their shocked surprise to offer hugs and congratulations all around.

*****

With all the adults gone, the teenagers sat together at first in an uncomfortable silence. Michael and Liz were on the love seat, while Isabel, Kyle, and Maria sat on the couch, leaving Max the Lazy Boy all to himself. They didn’t have time to be uncomfortable. They needed to solve the riddle and the alien threat to their lives, to the world before things got even more complicated.

Kyle, Michael, Isabel, and Liz started by telling Max and Maria exactly what happened at the Mission Hill caves on their camping trip.

“Maxwell, I don’t know what it was. But all of a sudden the ground was trembling and there were rocks falling on top of us, it felt like an earthquake. Isabel and I were separated from Kyle and Liz. We were both knocked unconscious,” Michael said intently, so involved in the narrative.

“Yeah, they were hurt pretty badly, Liz too, I was lucky I only got a few bruises and scratches,” added Kyle.

“How on earth did you guys get out of there?” asked Maria breathlessly.

“Liz used her powers,” Kyle offered by way of explanation.

“Powers? What powers?” Max asked.

“Well that thing she can do, projecting herself to where someone else is…you know, like what she did when you were in New York.”

“Right, but how did that help? Because I couldn’t hear her, just see her and it was very distracting.”

“Buddy, that distraction saved your life. Anyway, for some reason Michael could hear me. Isabel could see me but couldn’t hear me. But it didn’t really matter, cause Kyle was with Isabel.”

“How was Kyle with Isabel? Wasn’t he trapped with you?”

“Yeah, but Kyle was dream-walking Isabel,” said Liz.

“Kyle can dream-walk?” asked Maria.

“Yeah I can dream-walk,” Kyle responded huffily.

“He and Isabel apparently have been getting in quite a bit of practice,” Michael added dryly. Isabel’s face turned a bright red and Kyle grinned at him before turning to his girlfriend who was trying to hide her face against his chest.

“The point people, let’s get to the point,” Isabel reminded everyone.

Liz nodded and continued the story, “After Kyle and I managed to communicate with both Michael and Isabel, we realized that they were trapped further in the caves than we were, and we were already trapped—“

“Yeah, but then Michael and Isabel did this weird molecule thing and appeared on our side of the cave,” interrupted Kyle.

“They did what?” Max asked astounded.

“Molecular transportation,” said Liz, giving the ability a concrete label.

“You know Maxwell, where you disintegrate to the last molecule and reassemble elsewhere.”

“But isn’t that—“

“Creepy? Hell yeah, Evans but it was the only thing that would get us out of there fast. Remember we weren’t sure how much longer the caves would hold up, especially if what happened was alien-related.”

“Why are you guys so sure that it was alien-related?” asked Max.

“It wasn’t right, the way it happened, there was nothing on those walls. Nothing, not one etching the way you and Liz described,” said Michael.

“Besides,” added Liz, ever the scientist, “To be an earthquake, it’s center was way to concentrated on the same area, and there is no fault line that runs through the Mission Hill caves. There’s nothing that would rationalize the sudden tremor, because this area has no history of seismic activity. The only other explanation would be some weird government project, some sort of bombing, but they’d never have the permissions cleared to do it on a protected national park.”

“So the question is, do we go back? And what are we looking for?” asked Max.

“We have no choice,” Isabel replied, “But I think that both Liz and Kyle should train for a while, we need to harness whatever abilities they have before going back there.”

“We’ll work on a plan when we have a better idea of what Liz and Kyle can do. For now, let’s relax, anyone up for a movie?” asked Michael.