Aidan shook his head. "Sorry, I haven't met anyone named Wrath." He couldn't stop a wry smile at the name. "What he a rather angry fellow?" Getting back to business, he said, "Is Miss Parker all right? I had heard a rather disturbing story that she'd been fatally injured in a car accident last night. I'm not sure how reliable my source was, though." He shook his head. "Then again, Miss Parker has the tendency to recover quickly from fatal wounds."
Nominated by Angela; Written by Erin
When Max was occupied on the phone, Liz stepped over to Michael and Maria. In a quiet voice she asked, "What's wrong with Max? He's acting really weird." Her gaze travelled over to Rath. "You know, I expected Max to fight me on the whole Rath thing, like you did, Michael, but he doesn't even seem to care that the guy is here... And... I mean... just because I have these wacko powers now, I don't think that means I get gavel to lead all our meetings. What's going on?"
Nominated by Angela; Written by Erin
Tightening his grip on the steering wheel, Rath swerved the car over onto the shoulder and hit the breaks, sending gravel flying up into the air and leaving skid marks behind them. Putting the car into park, Rath turned in his seat to face Liz.
"Who da hell do ya think ya are? Like ya have any right ta question my life when ya don't even live yoah own! Is dis all ya are, Liz Parker? An alien groupie, followin' little Maxie da wanna-be King around an' doin' whatevah he asks ya to? All ya do is what he tells ya ta do! Ya nevah do anythin' dat *you* want ta do. Yoah just goin' through life as Little Miss Perfect, nevah takin' a chance on anythin' or anybody, livin' yoah life like it's a chore instead of livin' it wit' any real passion. So why should Ah even listen ta anythin' ya have ta say?"
Her cheeks paled a little. Rath had played right into some of her secret fears. Normally, she was pretty happy being her. She liked being a good kid. She liked being responsible and taking care of people. But sometimes... especially lately, in the post-Max era... there was this restlessness and fear. Part of her wanted to reach out and be crazy, hence the sexy first-day-of-school outfit and the pink spandex Crash Festival costume. And the responsible part of her wanted to take this new reckless part and reign her in tight.
Glaring at Rath, Liz funnled all that uncertainty into anger. "Alien groupie? You don't know anything about me and my life if you can say that! If I didn't take chances, do you think I ever would have followed Max into the band hall and forced him to tell me about the silver handprint? Believe me, there are days I wish I could change my mind. But once you start caring for people, when you let them in, you can't push them back out again so easily just because you feel restless or scared or lonely. Life doesn't work that way."
"Life works any way ya want it to, dats de whole point." Now that the conversation was off of him, Rath didn't feel nearly so out of control and angry.
"An' don't you try an' tell me dat lookin' fer de truth about Max was some reckless, risky thing fer you. I was inside yer head, Lizzie. You followin' Max wasn't nothing but being the perfect little scientist. Lookin' at every angle, leavin' nothin' ta chance. Dat's what you always do."
Liz kept her eyes on his face and could tell that his anger had disipated. He'd hit home and he knew it. But two could play at that game.
"Maybe you're right, but I was in your head, too. And I know that you always wanted a better life than the sewers. So don't try and tell me other--"
Rath stopped her with a hand over her mouth. "Did anybody evah tell ya dat you talk too much?"
Then, before she could pull away, he leaned in and replaced his hand with his lips.
This time the kiss was soft, but it quickly heated up. There was a heat between them that could not be ignored, no matter how much Liz wanted to. Of their own accord, her hands reached out and tangled themselves in Rath's hair. Their teeth ground together as the kiss intensified.
Weakly, she tried to push him away. "We can't do this here. If they find us... find you... it's not safe."
Rath shook his head, his lips skimming across her jawline and pausing by her ear. "It's called takin' a risk, Liz," he whispered. His hands slid down her back to her waist and he lifted her up, bringing her over the gearshift with little trouble, and sat her on his lap. A little akward in the small car, true, but managable. His hands cupped her face and then slid through the silky-soft hair that she usually kept pulled back in a low ponytail. He was glad she had it down right now. He leaned in, his lips hovering scant centimeters away from hers. Normally, he'd just take what he wanted, not giving a damn about something like permission. But this time... with her... this little girl... this *human* girl... he wanted to know that she wanted it, too. He wanted her to admit that, contrary to what she'd said back at the apartment, he was not just a convienent substitute for her lost king. He wanted her to say that she wanted him. Rath.
"Take a risk," he whispered, looking her straight in the eyes, holding her captive with his intense gaze. "With me."
Part of Liz wanted to run away. She was a kidnap victim, for goodness sake. Wasn't there some kind of mental illness where victims fell in love with their kidnappers? But, at that moment, the reckless side that was dying to come out took control of her body, and Liz leaned in of her own accord and kissed him.
Any pretense of gentleness vanished when he felt her lips touch his. She had granted him the permission that he'd sought and he did not need to be told twice. He buried one of his hands in her hair, tilting her head back to grant him better access, and the other hand caressed her jawline in slow but insistent circles, coaxing her mouth open so his tongue could slip inside and taste the sweet flavor that was uniquely hers.
His hands moved to her shoulders and slid down her back, finding the hem of her pink t-shirt (obviously borrowed from Michael's kid sister, seeing as he'd ripped the buttons off the shirt she'd been wearing last night when he was trying to heal her) and tugging it out of her belt so his hands could get to the soft skin beneath it. His hands on her back wrapped around her, crushing her tiny body against his as he continued to kiss her like she was the oxygen he needed in order to breathe.
And he kept thinking, if only he could get enough of her, he could figure out what it was about this girl that gave her that ellusive hold she had over him. And then he could get it and her out of his system and leave this shithole of a town behind, once and for all. He could let Zan and Loni worry about Ava and their lame-ass doubles. He could get away and disappear somewhere, so they'd never find him. He wasn't like Ava, he would cover his tracks so well that nobody could ever find him unless he wanted them to. And then maybe he'd have some peace.
But when would it be enough? When would he be able to finally give up Liz Parker, once and for all? As his mouth trailed a path of hot kisses down her neck, finding her pulse point and hovering there, the frenzied, excited beating of her all-too-human heart drumming in his ears, Rath noticed something really crazy. Something that had never, in his entire freaky life, happened before... not even with Loni.
His own heart was somehow, inexplicably, beating in time with hers.
It was impossible, it was unheard of, it simply *couldn't* be. Especially not with a human.
Wrenching his lips from hers, Rath leaned his head on her shoulder, trying to catch his breath. "Wha' da f*ck was dat?!?" he gasped, his mind a whirl of confusion.
Liz blinked. Her heart was pounding in her ears, echoed by his panting. Sucking in some oxygen, she said, "What was what?"
He looked up, meeting her confused gaze with his one of his own.
"Ya didn't...?" He didn't know what to say. How to tell her. So he just pulled up his shirt and took her hand, placing it on his chest, over his heart. His heart that was still beating in time with hers, as if some strange force had brought them in sync with each other.
Her hand felt cool on his skin, soothing. Why was that? Why, after what they'd just been doing, did she still have this strange ability to calm him? To make even this weird, scary and extremely screwed up situation he was in seem like it was somehow going to be okay.
"Dis is all kinds of f*cked up. Ya know dat, right?"
Liz frowned as she felt the beating of their hearts in tandem. "What... um... what does it mean? I don't..."
Had this ever happened with Kyle? No. With Max? Surely with Max, when they shared the flashes, they'd been this close, but she couldn't remember... couldn't remember being close to anyone but Rath.
A chill scuttled up and down her spine. She was here, making out with Rath! The rational part was trying to take over again.
Slowly, she moved off of Rath's lap, and sat in the passengerside seat. But, she couldn't quite stop touching him. Her hand lay against the strong, warm skin of his arm. She missed the feel of his heartbeat under her fingertips, but this was better, they had to think. They had to be smart.
"We're... um... we're going to have to go somewhere. A stolen car in a small town like Roswell, pretty much sheriff bait. Add that to the fact that the sheriff is a close, personal friend... It's not safe for you here."
Rath slanted his gaze over at Liz, a look that was equal parts confused, scared and angry adorning his face. There she was, Little Miss Perfect, sitting there with her kiss-swollen lips, mussed hair and rumpled clothing, talking about them like they were a couple all of a sudden. A couple of idiots in Rath's book. He for not being able to get this silly human girl out of his mind and she for actually being attracted to someone like him in the first place. "Two huge, f*ckin' retards," he muttered under his breath, a scowl appearing on his face.
In a move so sudden he almost surprised himself, Rath leaned across Liz and placed his hand over the locking mechanism on her door that he'd melted shut earlier with his powers, effectively trapping her inside. His hand began to glow with a soft, red light and, after a few moments, he took his hand away. The door was good as new again. She could open it and leave at any time.
"Der ain't no 'we' heah, Liz." he told her, meeting her eyes and letting her read the truth in his. "Ah kidnapped ya, remember? An' now Ah'm lettin' ya go. Find Maxie, wake him up from his little nap like some twisted, f*ckin' version of Sleepin' Beauty an' live happily evah aftah in yoah picture-perfect little suburban home wit' da white picket fence around da yard."
He looked away from her, leaning his head back against the headrest and closing his eyes with a sigh. This was completely f*cked up. HE was completely f*cked up. Half of him wanted her to fling open the door and run away, leave him the hell alone and let him disappear somewhere, live the rest of his life in some nameless city where no one knew his name or the fact that he was one fourth of an alien royal family. But the other half, the insane half, the weak half... it wanted her to stay. To tell him that she didn't want to leave. To reassure him that when she'd said 'we' before, she'd really meant it.
But that was just plain stupid. Really, really, really stupid. He didn't need her. She was just some human chick, same as all the rest. He used them and threw them away without thinking twice. He was above all this emotional shit. He was the Warrior. And it was time he struck a blow, time he ended this stupid infatuation... or whatever the hell it was. And if he couldn't make himself look at her while he did it, well, that didn't matter. It didn't make him weak. It didn't mean he cared. It just... didn't.
"Weah far enough out now dat dey won't be findin' us fer a while. So Ah don't need a hostage anymore."
Still couldn't bring himself to look. [Chickenshit coward.] But his mouth kept moving. Sounds kept coming out.
"Ah don't need you, Liz."
And damnit if he couldn't HEAR the weakness in his voice. The need. [Stupid f*ckin' retard. Ya'd nevah get yourself an Oscar wit' dat as yoah big moment, dat's foah sure.] Not that it really mattered what he said or how he said it. She was smart. She'd leave. She had to. For his own sanity as much as hers.
"Ah've got a sewer ta get back to."
Nominated by Court; Written by Sonya and Erin