Jeff knew that something strange had been going on between Liz and her friends during their high school years, but it wasn't until a month after they'd disappeared that he and Nancy had discovered what it was. A FedEx delivery had yielded a box with several cookbooks that Jeff couldn't recall having ordered, but as he opened one of them, he'd discovered that it had been hollowed out. Nestled within its center was Liz's journal.
The journal had explained everything, especially how Liz's world had changed so completely after she'd been shot during the altercation at the Crashdown three years ago. After closing that evening in the diner, as he read through Liz's journal entries, Jeff marveled at the secrets his daughter had kept, and the adventures she and her friends had experienced. It all seemed surreal, almost like a science-fiction movie or a television show. And yet it was his daughter's life.
The final entry had been written on the day she'd sent the journal via FedEx.
I can't tell you much more than that. It wouldn't be safe… for you or for us. I can tell you that we're far away, and that we're all trying to avoid the law and do good in the world. Oh, and I guess I should tell you that Max and 1 did eventually tie the knot. Give my love to Mom. Let her read this journal too. Then, give it to Maria's mom. And after that, take it and burn it out in the desert by the ruins of the pod chamber where my husband was born.
So that's the end. Our life in Roswell. What a long, strange trip it's been. Will we ever go back? 1 don't know. Even I can't see everything in the future. All I know is that I'm still Liz Parker, and I'm happy.
It was the last communication the Parkers had received from their daughter in months. Jeff had followed her instructions by sharing the journal with Amy DeLuca, and had also let the Evanses and Valenti read it. Even though he'd been shocked at first to learn how the kids had kept secrets from him, he understood now the necessity of those secrets. Nancy evidently felt likewise; she had told him that, in the same situation, the two of them probably would have made the same choices.
Valenti had warned all of them that they were being watched and monitored, and Jeff had even spotted some of the people he suspected were spying on him. But he never let on that he knew who they were, and neither did Nancy.
When they were in public, or home, or on the phone, none of the parents ever discussed what was really going on with their kids. They had all agreed to pretend not to know anything, expressing their concern and updating one another on not hearing from their children, for the benefit of any federal agents who might be listening in.
But Jeff knew that in their private meetings their tone with one another was quite different. Jim, Amy, Phillip, Diane, and he and Nancy all shared a secret bond that kept them in orbit around one another. Jim Valenti had shared more of his reflections on the past three years with them once the parents all knew the truth, and they now saw him as their children's guardian angel.
Jim had been the one who delivered to each of them their first news since Liz's journal arrived. Once a month, Jeff and Amy DeLuca received brief e-mails, though the Evanses had not always been so fortunate. Valenti always got them the e-mails in a way that made sure nobody but them knew what was happening: He delivered them as hard copies, which immediately went to the paper-shredder after they were read.
It had now been over a month since Jeff had last had any contact with Liz, so he hoped that the real reason Jim and Amy were eating here tonight might be to bring him some word from the kids.
Balancing the tray of food before him, Jeff moved out of the kitchen area, through the swinging door, and out into the dining area of the Crashdown.
"Here you go, Jim. The Tommy Lee Jones Basket. Extra peppers, as requested," he said as he set the deputy's plate on the table in front of him.
"Mmmmmm, smells great," Jim said, grinning.
Jeff placed Amy's plate in front of her as well. "Here's your Moon Rock Hash and Orbit Rings, Amy. And, if I may say so, you look great tonight. “
She blushed, waving her hand at him as if to push the compliment away. "Flattery won't get you a bigger tip, Jeff. “
Valenti picked up a folded menu from the table and handed it to Jeff. "I noticed there was something spilled on this menu, Jeff. You might want to get it replaced. “
"Thanks, Jim. I'll do that." He took the menu, his heart racing. "Anything else? “
"Naw, I think that'll do it," Valenti said.
Jeff turned and headed back to the kitchen. He opened the menu to find a folded piece of paper inside. He quickly slipped it into his pocket.
Ill read it tonight with Nancy, he thought. Out on Liz's balcony.
Cheyenne, Wyoming Max and Kyle approached at a run. Liz lay on the sidewalk, semiconscious. Alarmed, Max gently shook Liz and called her name. After a few moments, she groaned and began to awaken. Seeing that she didn't appear injured, Max felt relief flood through him like a physical force.
"Liz? What happened? “
Liz looked up at him, then seemed to notice the presence of Kyle and Isabel. Max could see that she was still disoriented.
"She put her hand on my shoulder and there was this big burst of energy," Isabel said. "And then she passed out. “
"I saw it," Liz said. "I saw Isabel die. “
"What?" The word came out of Isabel almost as a shriek.
"I got a future flash," Liz said, turning toward Isabel and addressing her directly. "The MiBs had caught you. They had doctors operating on you. “
"When? Where?" Max felt fear course through his system. If he lived to be a thousand, he would never forget the dissection to which he had nearly been subjected in the White Room at the hands of Agent Pierce. He would do anything to protect his sister from a fate like that.
"I don't know," Liz said. "There wasn't anything I could reference to figure out the date or the time. All I saw was one of those big scary operating rooms like they have in the movies. “
"So you're saying I'm gonna be killed by a mad scientist?" Isabel asked.
"Hey, Isabel, it's going to be okay," Kyle said, trying to reach out and hold her. "Calm down. “
"Calm down? You aren't the one who's going to be the star of Alien Autopsy, Kyle." Isabel shook off his touch and put her hands up to her face, breathing through her steepled fingers. Max had rarely seen Isabel so upset.
Then it occurred to him that he shouldn't be seeing her at all… at least, not away from their temporary sanctuary of the abandoned church. And not next to a pay phone.
"What were you doing out here, anyhow?" Max asked her, fearing he already knew the answer.
"I called Jesse, okay?" Isabel admitted, her anguished voice rising almost to a shout. "I just wanted to talk to my husband. Is that so wrong? “
Max knew that now wasn't the time to lecture her about how she might have endangered Jesse. Not with what Liz had just revealed about Isabel's future. Isabel's possible future, he thought, correcting himself. The whole point of our being out here on the road is to carve out our own destinies. We left Roswell to prove that we can make whatever future we want for ourselves. And yet all they seemed to be doing was running and hiding.
Max knew he had to get Isabel calmed down so that they could face the problem of Liz's premonition rationally.
He looked past his sister for a moment and noticed that the pay phone's receiver was dangling from the end of its cord.