something from the archives: whispers in the dark - part 1

another thursday, another story...

this was inspired by the new year's episode that paired up the roswell crew in unconventional ways.


Title: Whispers in the Dark
Author: Eva aka etoile1
Email: etoileone@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: Roswell is not mine. I’m just borrowing the concepts for a bit.
Rating: R, for sexuality and drug use
Category: Michael/Liz, Max/Maria, Kyle/Isabel
Summary: What if things had turned out differently for our favorite Roswellians on New Year’s Eve? Spoilers to “A Tale of Two Parties.”
Author’s Note: Come on wasn’t ATOTP an UC’ers dream ep? I couldn’t resist.

Part 1

*Liz*

I don’t know why I felt it was necessary to stay and help Dad with the cleanup. After all, he’d basically told me I could do what I had wanted to do all evening. I could be with Max and go find Enigma. For some reason, I just couldn’t bring myself to take him up on the offer. It could have been the perfect night, reaching midnight with Max by my side, it might have finally set everything else that was wrong between us right.

Instead I sent him off to find the best party of the year with Maria, my best friend, but still another woman. I really think there is something seriously wrong with me. My relationship with the man I believe to be the love of my life just feels strained, my heart doesn’t flutter the way it used to when we kissed. Really makes me wonder if all those articles comparing love to a drug addiction are true. Is the dopamine rush stage over for Max and I? And if it is, how do I find happiness with him?

I’m thinking about all this as I clear the diner of the remnants of the old geezer fiesta. I am even so generous to send Dad on upstairs so he can celebrate New Year’s with Mom. I finish cleaning everything up and am just dropping a few things off in my locker when I find him.

He’s lying on the floor of the break room, shivering and shuddering in obvious pain. I’m afraid to touch him, afraid to even whisper. I don’t know how sensitive he still is to external stimuli.

“Michael?” I whisper desperately as he cringes in response.

“Could you not yell Parker?” he whispers back sarcastically.

I touch him and his skin crackles with electricity. It’s pretty obvious the alcohol in his bloodstream has short-circuited his nervous system. For a moment I worry about his body’s balance, and whether or not we’ll need to perform the healing stones ceremony again.

I scold him, in the softest voice I can manage, “I thought you were all right? Didn’t you tell Maria you were fine?”

“So I lied.”

“Can you get up?”

“If you help.”

“Do you think you can make it upstairs to my room?”

“If you help.”

Seeing as he needs my help for everything, I put my arms around him and help him up off the floor. Now I’m not sure if it’s the added electricity he’s acquired or if it’s the sexual energy that naturally radiates from Michael, but for a moment there I want to tear his clothes off and explore his very buff back. I think he’s been working out.

Somehow we manage to climb up the stairs and sneak our way into my bedroom without attracting the notice of the parental units, cozied up in the family room watching some New Year’s Eve special on the television.

Anyway, so I sneak Michael into my bedroom and get him to lie down on my bed.

I then go out into the living room and pretend I’ve just come up the stairs. I head over to the family room and talk to my parents, tell them I’m tired and that I’m turning in, and that I wish them a Happy New Year. I also swing by the kitchen and grab some munchies for Michael and I, as well as some cold compresses for him, before heading back to my room.

Only to receive the surprise of my life.

*Maria*

Here I’ve been thinking Max is a bore. All this time I’ve known him, I can’t say I ever really saw the appeal. Well, let me tell you…hidden depths. Apparently that phrase about still waters running deep, so true. Max has been the absolute life of the party tonight. Which is exactly what I’ve needed. I guess I wasn’t the only one who wanted to forget some of the alien crap we deal with every day.

I was so surprised when he insisted on searching for Enigma with me, especially since I originally believed he’d only come along to chaperone Michael and me. Let’s not even talk about the stagnant waters there. I mean I feel bad for hurting him, but at the same time I couldn’t help being relieved that he overheard me talking to Liz about how I feel, about how sick and tired I am of our deranged cycle and the alien bullshit.

Anyway, so Max and I head back to Mr. Seligman’s classroom and take another good look at the clue. We already knew it wasn’t the frat party, so we figure that the twenty-four seven must be the convenience store downtown. We do some discreet sleuthing before we hit the jackpot. I discover a Crashdown flyer—one I know the Crashdown didn’t make and Max puts it all together. He figures out where the party is.

I’m so excited I want to kiss him (I don’t) and it’s pretty obvious he’s excited too (although he doesn’t kiss me).

I realize then that Max has really gone through a lot of shit this past year and a half, and that it really is time for the poor guy to break loose and party.

So we head out to the desert. It’s a gorgeous night. It’s dark and the stars blanket the sky and shine so bright, it’s like we don’t need fireworks to decorate it. We get out of the Chevelle and head up the hill, we can see the disco lights and hear the pulsating music in the distance.

Max asks me if I’m ready to party and I tell him I’ve been waiting my whole life for this one moment. I look at him and we take each other’s hands as he whispers 'I always keep my promises' in my ear.

Kyle

So I started the night out right, or so I thought. I did yoga and balanced the cosmic energies that flow around me. Then I lit a candle and asked Buddha for a hot chick. After all, it’s been a bit of a dry season this past year or two. The last time I got some was with Tess, the evil mind-warping hell bitch who killed Alex and messed with my head.

Right. So immediately my prayers are answered, ‘cause I get a knock on my door. Only it’s Isabel.

You’d think that for one night a guy could catch a holiday from all the alien bullshit. Not really, things never happen that way.

I think Buddha’s got some sick twisted sense of humor, sending me Isabel (Hello! Married woman!) instead of a hot chick who’d sleep with me. Did I mention the dry spell?

Anyway, she’s all broken up because Jesse (the ignorant bastard—honestly I don’t know what she sees in him, he’s too old for her, never really seems to put her needs first, if you ask me never seems to make her happy, everything’s a drama with them, and it’s as annoying as all hell), is in Houston instead of Roswell, leaving his new wife to welcome the New Year on her own.

So she wants me to hang out with her, watch movies and whatnot. But seriously, I’ve got to get some play and having a Blockbuster Night with Isabel isn’t just going to do it for me. I’m on the prowl for babes and a party. I’m on the lookout for Enigma. I’ve got the car (my boss’s) and the first clue (Mr. Seligman’s classroom), so this evening should be a piece of cake.

After cautioning Isabel about not cramping my style (“you’ve got style?” she says) we’re on our way to Enigma.

Actually, we get stuck after the second clue. I was so sure I was right. The signs were all there, the all-night convenience store, the hot chicks at the corner. But we find nada. And the two chicks are already spoken for. It’s downright embarrassing, I used to be considered quite the catch, but now I’m only the in-between guy.

Isabel’s pretty awesome though. She said she knew just the place to hook me up with some girls, college girls. And said that all I needed to do was pretend to have confidence, she said that was the key to scoring. Well, I had nothing to lose by listening to her, it wasn’t like I was getting any anyway.

At that point, I still had no idea what I was in for.

Max

I’m not exactly sure what it is about Enigma that draws me to it.

Perhaps the fact that it is a mystery I am sure I can solve is what draws me, after all, in my life, there are already so many unknowns, so much useless drama, that a hint of something that can be easily solved just feels good.

Quite frankly, it’s been a while since I felt good. I mean I know I’ve been a shit. What I’ve done to Liz, the entire group, the mistakes I’ve made, the way I’ve messed up so many lives, including my own—it’s pretty heinous.

I mean—hello—I’m a father?

For some reason, this party, it feels right. Like I should go out have an awesome time. Forget all the crap I have to live with.

Maria, once she realizes I’m serious about wanting to party, is the perfect partner. I think because she absolutely understands the need to forget everything. It’s cool to be with someone who understands how I feel, Liz never understands. At least not quite the way I wish she would.

We’re at Seligman’s again, when we figure out that the clue means the convenience store downtown. We get there and search for the next clue. I ask some guy from school if he’s seen or heard anything, but he just laughs in disbelief—and I have to wonder what is so unbelievable about Max Evans wanting to party? Because I do. For once in my life, I want to forget all the shit that comes with being an alien king who’s impregnated a traitorous murdering bitch. I want to have some fun. Party all night long. You get my drift.

So Maria finds the clue and we put two and two together. Next thing I know we’re in the desert, walking up a hill, heading towards the party of the year! I take her hand. It’s time to have some fun!

Michael

It’s too bright too loud too hot too cold it’s too much it’s too much Maria’s sick of this alien shit sick of the cycle it’s time to let her go it’s too bright too loud too hot too cold it’s too much it’s too much I tell her she should go I’ll be fine I’m lying but she doesn’t have to know it’s too bright too loud too hot too cold it’s too much it’s too much I tell her it’s time we both let go she knows I heard her but is glad to be free she’s gone it’s over it’s too bright too loud too hot too cold it’s too much it’s too much I’m dying how do humans enjoy this I don’t have to be strong anymore must hide from Mr. Parker it’s too bright too loud too hot too cold it’s too much it’s too much next thing I know Liz is yelling in my ear she knows I lied knows that it’s too bright too loud too hot too cold it’s too much it’s too much she’ll take care of me Liz always takes care of things she’s been there for me her arms are wrapped around my body it’s too bright too loud too hot too cold it’s too much it’s too much it hurts so bad I want to scream I want to die I shudder and writhe its an exquisite pain Liz is an angel it’s too bright too loud too hot too cold it’s too much it’s too much she helps me up to the bedroom my skin throbs in pain I still feel her arms around me I want them around me her legs wrapped around my waist scratches down my back her skin against mine the pain would be torture I bet Liz is a wildcat in bed it’s too bright too loud too hot too cold it’s too much it’s too much I have to take it off I have to take it all off it’s too much

Isabel

My darling husband of barely two months abandons me on our first New Year’s Eve together as a couple. You’d think we’d manage to make it through the holidays together, but we don’t and I can’t help feeling that it means something. I had a lovely romantic dinner planned for the two of us and now it’s ruined. But he wants me to go out a party.

I find that things have the tendency to get ruined when my husband is involved. Quite frankly the realization is a tad unsettling.

I hate imperfection. I can’t stand it when things go wrong. I like well-ordered plans. I like to be in control. There are already enough unknowns in my life, I like to control as much of it as I can.

So after feeling absolutely miserable and completely sorry for myself, I go to Kyle’s. He’s been this amazing friend to me the past year. He’s been supportive and understanding. He’s been the perfect gentleman.

Except tonight Kyle’s decided that instead of being the perfect gentleman, tonight he’s a player in search of hot girls and a party.

I really don’t want to spend New Year’s all alone, so I decide to tag along, perhaps assist Kyle on his quest for Enigma. He makes me swear that I will not cramp his style—this I’m not too sure I’ll identify but all I get from him is a glare.

Anyway he shows me his secret weapon, his boss’s car. I tease him about this but give the car a paint job and a new set of plates, so as to avoid any trouble with the law, Lord knows we’ve had enough excitement with law enforcement agencies to last a lifetime.

I wish Kyle knew that the car really isn’t his secret weapon. That what girls will really fall for is that amazing smile and the sincere expression in his baby blue eyes is enough to make any girl melt, even old married ones.

Anyway, after hitting the high school Kyle is sure he knows where to find the next clue. At the site, I stock up on junk food while Kyle chats up some floozies. I guess this is what he meant by not ramping his style.

They turn out to have boyfriends, the skanks, and Kyle is really disappointed—although better off in the long run in my opinion. However, not only have we not found any clues that would lead us to Enigma, he’s feeling like chopped liver and I’m still waiting for the fun to start.

So I cheer him up with a little insight into girls, I realize I can totally help him score tonight, not just with any girl, college girls.