by Anne
Disclaimer: The characters of Adam Newman, Megabyte Damon, Kevin Wilson, Ami Jackson, Jade Weston, General William Damon, Colonel Masters, Millie Damon and Caroline Damon belong to Roger Damon Price, Thames Television and Nickelodeon. So do any other names or events linked to the Tomorrow People TV series.
Max Evans, Liz Parker, Maria DeLuca, Michael Guerin, Isabel Evans, Alex Whitman, Kyle Valenti, Sheriff Jim Valenti and Milton belong to Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and WB. All other concepts and events linked to Roswell also belong to them.
The characters of Joe Dawson and James Horton (who appear in name only) belong to Panzer/David, Rysher/Gaumont Television. So do the concepts of immortality, the Watchers and the Hunters.
The characters of Geoff Anderson, Gil Hawkins, Jim Beckett and Simon Trent belong to me and should not be used without permission.
February 2000
Jade looked around as she and Megabyte materialised on the outskirts of Roswell. "Five minutes walk and we should be at the UFO centre," she told him.
"Five minutes walk?" Megabyte complained. "At least you could have found a spot closer to town, couldn't you?"
"Considering the amount of breakfast you helped yourself to when you picked me up, its not going to do you any harm is it?" Jade still found it amazing the amount of food her fellow Tomorrow Person managed to pack away. She had a sneaky suspicion he'd already eaten when he'd teleported in too.
"Hey all this TP stuff makes me hungry," retorted the redhead. "It's a long trip teleporting between my house and yours."
"Yeah right, Megabyte." Jade said. "I think you'll like this UFO centre. A lot of the alien artefacts reminded me of those cheesy movies you like so much."
"Attack of the Killer Cucumbers is a classic," protested Megabyte. "Did I ever take you to see the sequel?"
Jade shuddered. "Yes you did, unfortunately. It's an experience which haunts me to this day."
Megabyte ignored her in favour of a small dog being chased by two children down the footpath of what she presumed was the main street. As Jade watched the dog skidded to a halt as it approached the kerb and one of the children, a small darkhaired girl, slipped a leash around its neck and waited for her companion to catch up. "This place is quiet for somewhere that supposedly had an alien landing back in the forties. I always thought Roswell would be bigger for some reason. " Trust Megabyte to come out with a statement like that, she thought.
"You mean in comparison to Vermont?" Jade watched the other townspeople going about their business. There were children playing ball in the nearby park and a couple of high school age boys talking to each other enthusiastically as they headed for what looked like some sort of sporting practice. At least that 's what she presumed they were heading for. She ducked as their football sailed over her head.
"Sorry," yelled one of the boys as he ran past her enroute to saving his ball from the oncoming traffic. A car skidded to a halt, narrowly missing both the boy and his ball. He waved to the driver and continued on his way.
"Hold up," yelled his companion and broke into a sprint, as a couple of middle-aged women with toddlers in tow looked up to see where the noise was coming from.
She hadn't thought it was that quiet, but Megabyte was used to the middle of London these days, she supposed, even though he still seemed to think of Vermont as the place to be on the planet. "Do you still think it's quiet?" she asked him.
Megabyte reached out and ruffled Jade's hair with his hand. "I suppose where you come from this is as much excitement as you get in a week. You forget I don't come from a small English village where nothing ever happens. Oh yeah, apart from the odd alien invasion, but who's counting."
Jade grinned at Megabyte's reaction to her dig at his own hometown in the States. Roswell was a lot bigger than her village in England and they both knew it. As to the size of Vermont, well she only had Megabyte's word on that one. One of these days she'd talk him into taking her there and giving her the grand tour. "The UFO centre is over this way." Jade pointed to the building across the street.
"You mean it's that building that says UFO centre?" Megabyte's voice had a touch of sarcasm in it. Jade turned around to say something equally sarcastic back and noticed Megabyte was looking at something in the window of a nearby building. You have got to be joking, she thought as she noticed what it was he was reading.
"Hey this looks interesting squirt. Maybe we should check this out first." Megabyte gestured to the sign on the door. "I think all this walking has given me an appetite."
Jade groaned. "I'm beginning to think everything gives you an appetite, Megabyte." Crashdown Café she read, noticing the alien spaceship over the door. These people certainly seem to have aliens on the brain. I wonder what they'd think if they knew there really were aliens out there, she thought. "Okay, we'll stop and eat first. You have to pay though, I've only got English currency on me."
"You mean you brought me to the States without any money? Typical." Megabyte started to walk through the door of the café when he paused and turned to Jade. "How were you planning to get into the UFO centre then?" he asked.
Jade shrugged and flashed him a grin. "Isn't the man supposed to pay for these things?" she asked sweetly. She pushed her way in ahead of him and sat herself down at the nearest table. As Megabyte sat down across from her, she noticed with amusement how his face seemed to be changing colour. Got you, she thought.
"No way this is a date…" Megabyte started to say, then fell silent as he started to read the menu. A rather large grin formed on his face as he eyes travelled down the length of the small piece of laminated cardboard in front on him.
Jade ran her hands through her long blond hair, and wondered what was so interesting about the menu that it had stopped her friend mid- sentence. "Honestly, Megabyte, if I didn't know you better, I'd swear you were more interested in reading the menu than actually ordering." She wondered again if she had made the right decision in asking Megabyte to come to Roswell with her. Maybe Kevin would have been a better choice.
"So what do you want to try first, Jade? What about the tossed alien salad, or maybe the unidentified french flying object?"
Jade snatched the menu out of his hand. "Very funny, Megabyte. I suppose you think that's really smart, don't you?"
Megabyte laughed as he saw the expression on her face as she started reading for herself. "Got you, squirt. I knew you wouldn't believe me when I started reading it out to you."
Jade snorted in disgust and was about to say something when a waitress approached their table. She was about the same age as Jade herself, and was very pretty with long dark hair. The silver apron over her blue waitress' dress was shaped to look like an alien's face. There were even black oval eyes printed on the front to complete the theme of the outfit. In her hair she wore what Jade presumed were supposed to be alien antenna.
"Hi," said the waitress. "My name's Liz. Are you ready to order yet?"
"Almost," replied Jade, kicking Megabyte under the table. Her companion seemed lost for words for once. She could see him staring at the waitress. In fact he didn't seem to be able to take his eyes off her.
[Megabyte!] she 'pathed. [Don't look so obvious. Keep your mind on the menu and stop drooling.] You're supposed to be here with me, anyway, she added to herself. One of these days she was going to give up hoping that Megabyte Damon was going to ever think of her as anything but a friend. I suppose I can always dream, she thought.
"Sorry, Jade, did you say something?" asked the redhead.
Jade felt her face going beet red, and checked her mental shields to make sure they were still securely in place. "I said that we were just about to order," she retorted.
"So, are they a couple?" asked Maria DeLuca as Liz gave the order to the cook. "Did you find out what the redhead is called? I still think he's really cute. Maybe I should take their order to them when it's ready. What do you think?"
Liz Parker watched the interaction between the two with amusement. They reminded her in a way of her friends Maria and Michael, constantly baiting each other while hiding their true feelings. Well at least these two didn't have the added complication that one of them wasn't exactly a normal teenager. Scratch the teenager bit, she added to herself as she eyed up Megabyte again. He was definitely at least a couple of years older than herself or Jade.
"I think you're still trying to make Michael jealous," replied Liz. "Honestly, Maria, he's not even here to notice."
"Well, girlfriend, I might as well just go and check out the talent then. I mean, at least this guy's not Czechoslovakian. It would be nice to chat to someone who's not tied up with you know what, for a change."
Liz smiled to herself as Maria used the word Czechoslovakian, the word they had agreed to use instead of 'alien.' Of course Alex had pointed out that Czechoslovakia hadn't existed for quite some time but that was beside the point. It reminded her of a time when things were still simple, before Max had saved her life by healing her when she had been shot. Before he had told her that he, his sister Isabel, and friend Michael Guerin, were not, to use the term he preferred, of this earth. Even though life had been less complicated then, she still wouldn't go back to the way things were. She couldn't imagine not having Max Evans as part of her life, even though their relationship still wasn't exactly the way she would like. Max seemed too worried about how a relationship with him might put her in danger.
Liz was still deep in thought, when the cook finished the order for table seventeen. Maria grabbed the plates before her friend could change her mind, and headed for the redheaded guy and his friend.
"Hi, I'm Maria, hope you enjoy your lunch. Sorry, I didn't catch your name."
Jade stared at the blonde girl in front of them, wondering what had happened to the other waitress. "I'm Jade," she said, "And this is my friend, Megabyte."
"Megabyte. That's an interesting name. Are you good with computers or something?"
"Something like that," mumbled Megabyte, glaring at Jade at the same time. He had noticed the look on her face, and was wondering what she was going to say. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to tease her the way he had. Hopefully Jade wouldn't say anything he might regret later.
Maria was still talking. "You're not from around here are you? I mean I haven't seen you before, and I didn't think anyone new was moving into town. You aren't starting at Roswell High are you?"
"Sorry I've done my whole torture in high school thing already. I'm concentrating my efforts on college these days. Jade, though, she's still into…" Megabyte's voice tailed off as Jade kicked him under the table and said something rude telepathically. He grinned. Funny how Jade knew what he had been about to say. "Yeah, we're just passing through for the day. Jade wants me to have a look at this UFO centre that you guys have."
Maria motioned Liz over as she continued. "Actually, we might be able to help you there. Liz' friend Max works there. If you ask for him, he'll be able to give you the grand tour. Isn't that right, Liz?"
[Told you she had a boyfriend, Megabyte,] 'pathed Jade.
"Thanks, that sounds really cool. So if we just ask for Max, we should find him, then?"
Liz nodded again and gave the two Tomorrow People a friendly smile. "I'm off work in a bit. If you like I can…" She noticed the frantic signs Maria was giving her, and amended what she was saying. "Or rather, we can, meet you over there afterwards and maybe we can all go out for coffee or something."
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