#Alex Manes Lock Screen Photo

[gaymasonjar]

Will You Meet Me In The Middle?

Preview of Chapter 7: Sanctuary

 It was late in the morning when they crossed the border to their home state. Bags packed into the back of the truck and a small cooler up front with snacks for the road. It had taken them two days between stopping at gas stations and switching up who drove. Monday morning light was shining on them as they crossed through New Mexico. They were less than an hour out from the city limits of Roswell.

 The radio was blasting music that Alex was humming along to. His eyes were focused on the passing landscape, the wind blowing his hair around since the windows were rolled down. Michael had his left hand wrapped around Alex’s thigh as he drove.

 Alex’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, noticing the new notification. It was an email from the photographer. He opened it excitedly. There were nearly 100 good photos that were edited. They looked      amazing    , perfect even.

 “Oh, my god.”

 Michael glanced at him, “What’s up?”

 “I got the photos back from Dawn- they’re amazing Michael.”

 He scooted over on the bench seat to get closer to his husband. Michael glanced down at the phone periodically as Alex swiped through the pictures. He tightened his grip on Alex’s leg; neither noticing the soft glow from his hand.

 “Incredible…who knew we both cleaned up so well?”

 Alex laughed lightly, “I’m printing these out to put up around the house.”

 “All of them? Might as well turn them into a collage and past it like wallpaper.”

 “Some of them I’ll print for hanging, the rest is going in our first album.”

 Michael raised his eyebrows, “Alex Guerin, are you telling me that we’re starting our first photo album?”

 “I think so.”

 “God, I love you so much.”

 “I can tell”, Alex pressed his hand over the spot on his chest where Michael had left the first handprint. “I can      feel     it. It’s intense.”

 “Cosmic”, Michael corrected cheekily.

 “Cosmic”, Alex agreed before resting his head on Michael’s shoulder. “We should stop at the Wild Pony before we go to the house, and get some lunch.”

 “Sounds like a pretty good idea to me.”

 Alex looked down at his phone, flipping through the pictures again and again. The smile never left his face. He never thought it possible to be so in love and so happy. After choosing his favorite picture- the one of him and Michael laughing as they sat on the back of the car and the cathedral was behind them- he set it as his new lock screen.

 “I think my new IDs should be arriving in the mail soon”, Alex stated as he adjusted the radio volume. “I left the paperwork with Maria before we left so hopefully she remembered to mail it off for me.”

 “Eager to drop the Manes name?”

 “You know it. It’s the last thing my father gave me and I’m ready to part with it.”

 Michael squeezed his thigh, “Now Kyle can just look at us collectively when he’s mad and call us both Guerin.”

 A smirk crossed his face as he imagined it. “‘Guerin! You guys need to wait a minute to actually think this through!’”

 He laughed at his husband’s impression of the doctor. “Exactly.”

 “Husband privileges.”

 “Oh is that what we’re calling it?”

 “Well, it’s certainly not a disadvantage.”

 Michael chuckled.

 The ‘Welcome to Roswell’ sign had come and gone. The Wild Pony was up ahead. Michael parked the truck in the busy parking lot. After placing his cowboy hat securely on his head, he led Alex by the hand into the establishment. Most of the tables were crowded with the lunch rush traffic.

 Maria Deluca was working behind the bar. Hoop earrings, pink tank top, curls, and all. She was pouring beers for her customers, not paying attention to her newest ones. Michael and Alex grabbed the two stools at the end of the bar and waited patiently. Maria swept down toward them with menus in hand. She placed them down in front of them before she even lifted her gaze.

 “Welcome in, what can I start you wi-” Maria’s eyes widened in surprise before she squealed. She ran around the bar to hug both of them at once. “You’re back!”

 “Honeymoons don’t last forever, unfortunately”, Michael joked.

 “Tell me EVERYTHING”, Maria paused. “Okay, maybe not everything but I want details! How was it? Where did you go?”

 “San Diego”, Alex supplied. “Beautiful beaches. It was so relaxing.”

 Maria rounded back behind the bar as she wiggled her eyebrows, “I’m sure not THAT relaxing.”

 “I’m not giving you details on our sexcapades.”

 Michael snorted and rubbed a hand down his face.

 Maria fake pouted before she leaned forward. “I saw the video, very cute.”

 “We also took pictures while we were out there.”

 “I HAVE to see those.”

 “After we get a drink”, Michael interrupted. “Long drive.”

 “Oh, of course, one second.”

 Maria went to fill two glasses of beer for her friends, knowing what they regularly drank while in her establishment. Alex pulled the pictures up on his phone while she was busy with that. Once the beers were set down, she leaned across the bar eagerly. Her jaw dropped as she scrolled through the pictures.

 “You guys are sooooo hot- I love these!”

 “We had a really good photographer”, Alex supplied.

 “Wait- oh my god, those are the sweatshirts that Isobel made you while Alex was in the hospital. How cute!”

 Michael sipped his beer, “Honestly as dorky as they are, they’re very comfortable. And I like that everyone can just read it and know. No questions. This man belongs to me.”

 Alex grabbed his free hand and kissed the back of it. “We belong to each other.”

 “Ugh, stop. You guys are adorable”, Maria stated as she waved her hand at her face.

 Michael chuckled at her antics, “So did we miss anything while we were gone for nearly three weeks?”

 “Well. Max and Dallas are still gone. No word about that. Isobel and Kyle finally stopped dancing around each other. Oh, and Liz has kinda just thrown herself back into her work.”

 Alex frowned, “Really?”

 Maria nodded as she fidgeted with her necklace pendant, “Yea. She’s still trying to get her brain back to the speed it was before the whole alien mist fiasco. And I don’t think she wants to process that her fiance is on the other side of the universe. Bit much for her.”

 “I know how hard that can feel”, the brunette glanced at his husband. “It was bad enough being trapped in another dimension.”

 “They’ll come back”, Michael said. “The control panel still functions, it just needs fuel. I’m sure it’s easier to get it on Oasis than it is on Earth.”

 Alex hummed in agreement as he pulled out a pill bottle from his jacket. He poured a few into his hand before taking them. Maria glanced at him as he did. Alex was still prescribed to take Prussian Blue to fight off any remaining radiation left from his time spent in the other dimension. He was due for another checkup with Valenti now that they were back in New Mexico.

 “So, how have you been feeling?”

 “Honestly, really good”, Alex promised as he sipped his drink. “Haven’t noticed any side effects.”

 “Good- Kyle will be happy to hear that, he’s been worried about you.”

 “I would’ve let him know if anything was wrong.”

 “You know how he is.” Maria flipped her curls back over her shoulder, “He carries more stress than anyone should.”

 “If he knows what’s good for him, he should think about working for Deep Sky”, Michael interrupted.

 “He’s a doctor Michael, he wants to help people”, Maria scolded.

 “Yea but he’s also the only alien doctor we’ve got. Deep Sky can provide equipment and materials that he doesn’t need to steal from the hospital.”

 “I can talk to him about it. I know his uncle wouldn’t be against it”, Alex agreed. “I have to see him this week anyway.”

 “Deep Sky creeps me out”, Maria muttered.

 “Why?”

 “It’s a secret organization. Can you really trust that it’s completely good?”

 “No”, Alex tapped his glass with his finger. “But you can’t really trust anything- military, government, local or federal. The world isn’t as black and white as people wish it was.”

 Michael snorted. “That’s an understatement.”

 “I just worry too, 'cause ya know, I’m like that”, Maria stated. “Anyway! Lunch is on me, what are we thinking, boys?”

Read more on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45325099/chapters/114787342

#will you meet me in the mid #roswell #roswell new mexico #roswell tv show #roswell fic #michael guerin #alex manes #alex guerin #michael x alex #malex #malex fic #malex forever

[lunaares]

Sweet Vlamy Vibes

#Michael Vlamis #Vlambase #Roswell New Mexico #RoswellNM #Michael Guerin #Malex #Guerin Curls #Guerin at the Beach #Alex Manes Lock Screen Photo

[haloud]

any other rose

ao3

With Dad in a coma and Flint nowhere to be found, Alex takes a leave of absence from Roswell to check on the other ducks in this particular row. He goes alone, though Kyle offers to come with him, puffing his chest up like that jock he used to be, only this time it’s to protect Alex from theoretical threat, and it’s frankly fucking adorable. He doesn’t even tell Michael he’s leaving until he sends him a text at a rest area a hundred miles away to tell him he’ll be back within two days.

This is something Alex has to do for himself. He needs information, something more tangible than what he can read off his computer screen, before he declares open war. His family may be hateful to the core, maybe, maybe, but a lot can change in relatively little time, and Alex just—can’t keep walking blind not knowing who his actual enemies are.

As Flint so eloquently put it, Alex has always been the black sheep of the family. His brothers, well, they toed the line much more skillfully, and grew closer together because of it. When Alex sets out to track down his two oldest brothers, he first runs into a wall. The eldest, Harlan? His military records check out up until the very recent present, then he just disappears. Definitely concerning, but maybe he just turned into a doomsday prepper and is living in a bunker made out of nonperishable food somewhere in the Midwest.

Robert, in contrast, doesn’t appear to be hiding his tracks at all. His whole life unspools for Alex in a perfectly neat paper trail—which is funny, because Robert is the one who hasn’t spoken to anyone in the family since 2013, making the possibilities frankly endless. Deep cover? Maybe, but his credit card activity is bland and consistent every statement Alex rifles through. A fight or falling out with Dad, Harlan, or Flint? Well, Flint doesn’t have the backbone to really ‘fall out’ with anyone, and if it was a fight with Dad then the old bastard would have taken it out on the rest of them tenfold. Harlan is a distinct possibility, but what might be so bad that both of them would drop off the grid, with Robert maintaining a convincing facsimile of civilian life?

No, there are two possibilities that Alex deems actually likely.

First: Robert is as neck-deep in conspiracy, murder, and torture as Dad and Flint, and he cut off contact with the family as a minimalization of risk. If one arm of Project Shepherd gets discovered, then a manufactured estrangement offers plausible deniability that the others had no knowledge of it whatsoever.

The second possibility has Alex pacing his floor at three in the morning more nights than he’d like.

(Why? Why? The world went dark around him as he stared at his computer screen with his hand over his mouth, staring at the name of a niece he’s never met. Aubrey Alexandra Manes. Why?)

A phone call would be too much warning, would give Robert time to hide or come up with a story. So Alex just finds his address, gets in the car, and goes searching for answers. What he finds is a simple ranch house six hours out of Roswell, one with a flag hanging from the porch and a slightly overgrown yard full of soccer goals and Barbie jeeps and other childhood detritus.

Maybe Robert knew to expect him somehow; maybe he just wasn’t expecting a car in the driveway at this time of day and therefore came out to inspect it. Either way, Alex doesn’t even make it up the porch stairs before Robert opens the door and brings them face to face for the first time in a long, long time.

“Alex!”

The shock would almost be funny, if Alex wasn’t bracing for either a punch or a bullet.

“Hey, big bro,” he says, curling his mouth in a deliberate smile. “It’s been six years since I got a courtesy Christmas phone call. What’s new in your life?”

Face thunderous, Robert steps over the threshold and closes the door behind him. “Cut the crap. Believe it or not, I’ve been following your career. I know you could find out anything you wanted about me, and hell, I know you probably did. So it’s you that needs to start talking.”

Alex nods pensively. Reevaluates. Strange, to be properly estimated by a family member. It is true, though—Alex never would have gone in blind, and the research he did produce some interesting results.

Six years ago, Robert stopped coming to holidays. He stopped picking up the phone. He made polite, manly excuses whenever their dad pressed him, but he made those excuses every single time. And what did Alex find when he went looking? A birth certificate for a little girl, dated 2013; immunization forms; preschool and elementary registration; another birth certificate dated two years later. Aubrey Alexandra. So yeah, Alex knows, as if the yard cluttered with toys wasn’t enough of a clue. What he doesn’t know is why, so that’s what he’s here to find out.

“What’re their names?” Alex asks casually. He keeps his hands still at his sides, empty and loose. Not a threat. He has no interest in making Robert fear for his family, and if he’s being generous, he knows that Robert has no more reason to believe Alex isn’t working under their father’s orders than Alex has to trust him.

“Hope and Aubrey,” Robert says, the like you don’t already know hovering understood between them. He takes a step forward and shoves his hands in his pockets, shrewd soldier’s eyes scanning Alex just as much as Alex scans him. It’s a little strange, more so than Alex expected, to discover that Robert actually is a stranger now, not frozen at eighteen and stocky and mean-spirited.

Robert doesn’t move forward like he’s making threats. He presumably came outside because he felt either surprised or threatened by an unexpected vehicle in the driveway, but he isn’t even wearing a holster. Not even the suggestion of a weapon on his person. Is he the kind of military father who locks his guns away? Their dad was never that conscientious—presumably because it builds character for a little kid to accidentally shoot himself; either that or he just assumed his boys were too scared to go near anything of his. A fair assessment.

But what is a fair assessment of Robert? Maybe he just thinks girls can’t handle exposure to guns—safer parenting, to be sure, but still indicative of a toxic mindset. After all, Robert would’ve gotten suspended three times for snapping girls’ bra straps if dear old dad hadn’t intervened every single time.

“And are they why you’ve been MIA all this time?” Alex asks, point blank.

“You’re going to have to tell me why you’re here before I give you any information about my children. That’s non-negotiable.”

“Fair.” Alex holds his hands up in surrender, then lowers them as Robert takes another step his way.

“Are you here because of dad.” The question falls flat, like he doesn’t really want the answer. Robert’s face is inscrutable, his tone still thinly pleasant, but something darker lurks beneath the surface.

“In a manner of speaking.” Alex tilts his head and looks his brother up and down. Robert’s put on a little weight since the photos Alex saw from his last deployment; he’s got laugh lines around his eyes. They’re all of them getting older, but Alex—once again wrong-footed, and he’s getting increasingly frustrated with himself—Alex never expected Robert to wear his age so openly. “I’m doing a little reconnaissance. You see,” this time it’s Alex who steps forward, “Last time I saw Flint, it was in a secret torture prison our father has been running for decades, and he had a gun to my head. Harlan appears to have gone off the grid, so one can only guess what’s going on there. Which leaves…you. I thought it was high time we had a little reunion, bro.”

Genuine shock flicks over Robert’s face, and his eyes dart up and down Alex’s body as if looking for injuries. He is a military man, however, so the emotion is quickly replaced with more grim impassivity. “What kind of information are you looking for? Are you in danger right now? God damn it, Alex, my family—”

“Aren’t home at the moment, and I will happily be long gone before they get back. This is about our family, not yours. Hope won’t need to be picked up from school until 2:30, and your wife takes Aubrey to Tiny Tots ballet classes after preschool from one to three every Monday and Thursday. No one knows I’m here; if you’ve really been following my career, you know I know how to cover my tracks. I didn’t come here to make threats, Robert.”

“Then why are you here? You seem to know pretty much everything already.”

Alex feels a pang of…actual guilt at the fear lurking on Robert’s face, in his defensive posture, in the way he clenches his hands compulsively in his pockets. Rattling off his kid’s routines like that…might have been an excessive show of force, and Alex grimaces at himself. Robert is a soldier, sure, but somehow…somehow Alex forgot that not everyone has been unraveling earth-shattering revelations for the past year. He dug into Robert’s life remembering the dick who did shit like flushing his toothbrush down the toilet and dying all his clothes pink because he was ‘basically a girl anyway, right?’, and he did it expecting to find yet another monster with Alex’s same blood pumping through his veins.

He needs to remember: high school. Ten years to the left. Alex nods sharply to himself. He went about this the wrong way—it’s a reunion, not an op. If it goes poorly, he walks out of here with better knowledge of his enemy and the exact same amount of family he walked in here with. Nothing to lose.

“I just needed to see for myself, I guess. The reason why you haven’t even talked to dad in over half a decade. Or me. I don’t know about Harlan and Flint, but I’m guessing they’re getting the same treatment?”

Robert thinks for a minute, then he jerks his chin towards the rocking chairs squeezed into the corner of the narrow porch. “I’m not inviting you inside just yet, but I’ll get us some beers. We can sit out here and talk.”

Alex takes a seat in one of the rocking chairs and rests his hands on his knees. In between the two large chairs are two little ones, painted all kinds of crazy colors, sponge-stamped with bunnies and butterflies and dinosaurs. A pang of—something echoes deep in his chest. Can you be nostalgic for something you’ve never, ever had?

“Okay.”

Robert sticks a beer in Alex’s face. It’s already open; Alex sniffs it, swishes it in his mouth, holds it on the back of his tongue before swallowing. Well, if Robert was keeping undetectable poisons around on the off chance he got to slip it into Alex’s drink, he probably wouldn’t be walking around without a gun. Alex takes a real swig and waits for Robert to start talking.

His brother doesn’t look at him, just stares into the middle distance as he says, “You might remember Alanna, my wife. I think you met her a couple times.”

“Of course. Dad didn’t ‘approve of her family,’” Alex says with a thin, sarcastic smile. The real reason, of course, is that Alanna is black, but Jesse would never be so uncouth as to say something like that outright. No, it’s always dogwhistle central with that man.

Robert snorts and spits in disgust, the largest show of emotion he’s displayed since Alex pulled into the driveway. “Yeah. Fucking hell. You and I both know how deep Dad’s hatred runs. For everyone and everything that doesn’t march to his fucking tune.”

Alex folds his hands in his lap and does a terrible job of keeping the knives out of his voice. “Of course. I just wasn’t sure how you would approach the topic. Of hatred, that is, since I was the only member of the family not invited to the wedding.”

It’s surprisingly difficult to get the words out. How many times is he going to have to go through this? First with Flint, now…Robert may not have pulled a gun on him (yet), but it’s still a piece of Alex’s soul that gets chipped away bringing up this old pain. ‘Don’t you ever get tired of being the black sheep,’ Flint said, and the answer is, frankly, not fucking likely, considering the standards set by the other Manes men past and present. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt to be alone, doesn’t mean he didn’t feel the lump in his throat and the pain in his chest when he saw the wedding pictures on Facebook and realized he was deliberately excluded.

Alex clenches his fists on top of his knees and gets pissed at himself for showing even that much of a reaction.

Robert cuts his eyes away, clenching his jaw. Finally, he says, “Fuck. God damn.”

“No, I get it.” Alex forces a laugh. “Couldn’t have the gay gaying up your big day. We’re not here to talk about me. Forget I brought it up.”

Shaking his head sharply, Robert says, “I’m airing old shit, and I’m doing it once, then we’re getting back on topic. I didn’t invite you to the wedding because Dad already invited himself, you had just gotten stationed far away from Roswell, and I didn’t want to put you back in his path. That’s the sum of it. End of story.”

An ugly laugh, a real one this time, busts out of Alex’s chest. God, that’s even more rich than Flint’s bullshit about protection!

“I’m serious,” Robert snaps. “’Lanna opened my eyes to a lot of shit, okay? I won’t pretend I was some kind of amazing fucking ally back then, but I wasn’t afraid of your gaying, got it?”

And Alex wants to fight back. He does. He’s still owed a fucking pound of flesh. But in the back of his mind, he thinks—Aubrey Alexandra. And it gets him back on track. It even lets him see the humor, because, come on, Robert saying gaying like that is pretty fucking funny.

“Okay. Apology accepted,” he says, one last snark because Robert never actually apologized, and the way he looks away again says he knows that. “Tell me more about Alanna.”

“Right. Well. So anyway, she knew what she was marrying. Dad gave her the fucking creeps, but she married me anyway.” He fiddles with the label of his beer and quite obviously tries not to smile. “And we did the happy family thing for a while. I was deployed; the distance was hard. She felt a lot of pressure to be the right kind of military wife, but she had zero support. I was wrapped up in myself. The missions, the medals. I was a shitty husband, a shitty partner.” He drains his beer, then stares at the bottle like its emptiness is a personal betrayal. “Between deployments, she gave me the ultimatum. Couples counseling—completely non-military—or that’s it.”

“You went to a therapist?” Alex blurts. Robert? The guy who would lurk outside the guidance counselor’s office and trip kids if they came out crying? Maybe Alex should have done a deeper dive into whether or not Robert could have had alien contact.

Robert snorts and shakes his head. “I deserve that. God I was an absolute fucking cock as a kid. And as an adult. But Alanna gave me something to fight for, and damn if she didn’t push me to fight for it. I don’t know. I didn’t understand half the crap the shrink said. But I listened. Followed orders. Not so hard.”

“But you still had some contact with dad in that time. You didn’t go radio silent until several years after you and Alanna married.”

“He’s not an easy man to say no to. When his number would come up in my phone…”

Robert’s jaw clenches hard and tight. Alex hopes he has good dental.

“I always picked up. Autopilot. But the shrink helped me realize trying to be like Dad was…well, in real terms, ruining my fucking life.”

Damn. Alex is gonna find this therapist and send an annual fruit basket.

“And then Alanna got pregnant?” he prompts; Robert nods curtly.

“Changed my whole life. Scared me shitless, too, I don’t mind telling you. I was just working out how fucked our whole upbringing was, and now it was my turn? God.”

“So that’s the story? That’s why it’s been six years since you acknowledged any of us?”

Robert looks at him dead-on for the first time since they sat down. He looks like Dad. He really does. The same squarish face, the same thin mouth, the same soldier stoicism. But there’s a softness in the next words he says that Alex never once heard come out of their father’s mouth, and it shakes something in Alex’s very core.

“I got kids of my own now, man. And I work with kids too, or around them. Eighteen, nineteen years old. And I think about how dad treated us. I’m not exposing Hope and Aubrey to that. Not ever.”

“Good reason to avoid Dad, then. But what about the rest of us? Harlan, Flint? Me?”

Shrugging, Robert says, “I talked to Harlan a while longer, since we were closest as kids. But he got weird, man, I don’t know. And Flint…ended up I couldn’t trust him one bit. If I talked to him at all, he’d hand the phone over to Dad, and I didn’t want this shit getting that messy.”

“And me?”

Aubrey Alexandra. A little slice of Alex’s world has been disorienting and surreal ever since he read that name. Aliens are one thing, but having a niece that’s carrying his name—Alex doesn’t know how to live in that world. He has to hear it out of Robert’s own mouth, this brother he didn’t know he had at all.

A huge sigh gusts out of Robert’s chest. He goes back to staring into the middle distance. It’s a long while before he says, “I told you already that I’d started realizing Dad was fucked up.”

He cuts off there like there’s something physical blocking the words, and Alex waits for him to continue.

Finally, he says, “That was a hard thing to come to terms with. I always thought Dad was what made us into men, you know? If times were hard, well, they had to be, to toughen us up. But it turns out Dad was just an abusive fuck. So then what good is any kind of lesson he ever taught us? What good is being any kind of man he’d be proud of, when I’ve got ‘Lanna and two baby girls I could be making proud instead?” He sighs heavily. “So that’s why. I wanted them to be proud of me, and there’s nothing to be proud of in the way I treated you. The way I let you be treated. I thought about calling you up, but I was too damn cowardly to dial the phone, and somewhere along the line I convinced myself it would be better if I just let you live your own life without fucking bullies sandbagging you.”

Alex takes a moment.

In that moment, Robert runs his hand over his close-shaven skull three times. He bounces his leg, stops himself, and bounces again. He brings his beer up to his mouth like he’s forgotten already that it’s empty.

And Alex just…breathes.

Flint carried his orders like absolution so he could sleep at night. With Robert being such an unknown after six years of radio silence, Alex thought he was prepared for all eventualities this reunion might come to, but turns out he wasn’t actually prepared at all. Not for the reality of the two little rocking chairs, allowed to be bright and clumsy. Not for a version of his brother that sees the world with open eyes.

“You going to say anything?” Robert finally says gruffly.

“I saw Aubrey’s birth certificate when I researched you.” Alex swallows and tries to wet his throat with the beer, but it’s gone flat. Ugh. Still, he won’t back down. “Aubrey Alexandra.” Saying the name out loud chokes him up, just a little bit, and he forces it back down like he learned to do a long time ago. “You could have just called me.”

Robert ducks his head to hide his own too-bright eyes, and that sheepish, honest gesture cracks deep in Alex’s chest to feed some very small, very young part of him.

“Yeah,” Robert mumbles. “I know I should’ve—asked you. Or just not. But I was all emotional ‘n shit. It felt right at the time.”

“All right.” Alex shoves his emotion unceremoniously aside. He has the information he came for, so it’s once more time for action. The fact is that no matter how skilled Alex is at covering his tracks, his presence has the possibility of putting Robert’s family in danger. Until Dad is dealt with for good; until Flint and Harlan are neutralized; Alex can’t be a part of his brother’s life, or his wife’s, or the lives of his nieces.

Something else to fight for, then. As if he needed more motivation.

Alex gets swiftly to his feet, and Robert mirrors the motion.

“You’re leaving?” He blurts out, and something like grief, chased by acceptance, runs across his face. God, Alex almost wants to do a double take every time he sees honest emotion in eyes like those. But it’s time he gave credit where credit is due.

“I should,” Alex says. “I promised I wouldn’t put your family in danger before I heard your story, and I intended to keep that promise no matter what you said to me. But now it is imperative that you listen.”

He puts his hand on his brother’s shoulder for what may be the first time in their entire lives. Robert swallows.

Alex says, “Do not change a single thing about your routine. Do not tell anyone I’ve been here. When it’s safe, I will contact you—and at that time, it’s your decision if you want me in your children’s lives or not.”

He can see every single question in Robert’s face. Pride and anger tense him up, but, miracle of miracles, Alex also gets to watch him let them go.

Fruit basket. Seriously. Maybe an Edible Arrangement, for the actual miracle worker.

“How much danger are you in?” Is all Robert demands, voice still gruff with emotion.

“No more than usual. Don’t you know I love to live dangerously?” Alex says breezily, but Robert doesn’t unclench. Great, just what he needs—another person in his life taking his safety seriously when there are things that need to get done. Alex gives a fond roll of his eyes and lets his hand fall off Robert’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” he says, honestly, as Robert follows him off the porch and to his car.

“Pretty sure you don’t get to thank me for anything ever. I basically owe you for life.”

“Well, then, get started on your debt and give me that ‘you’re welcome’ you owe me just now.”

“You’re welcome.” He hesitates, swallows a couple times. Then he raps the top of Alex’s car and chokes out: “Drive safe, kid.”

Alex drives home in a different world than the one he drove up in. He barely notices the miles fly by, and when he gets home to Roswell, everything still looks the same, no matter how impossible that is.

Still, life goes on. A week later, a letter comes for him at the base. The return address makes him furious—how’s Robert made it this long if he can’t follow a simple order for his own good?—but he can’t hold onto that anger as soon as he sees what’s inside.

The thick envelope contains three sheets of paper and a fridge magnet—just a generic #1 Uncle! design, but it still hits him hard right in the chest. The first page of the letter is covered in small, need script he doesn’t recognize—Alanna’s, most likely. The next page he unfolds is covered in a child’s deliberate print, and he puts that aside too, gently, reverently, so he can read it later and savor every word. The last page is covered in drawings, big and bright; god, he’s gotten more medals than he knows what to do with, but he’s never felt as honored as he does now by the fact that clearly Aubrey busted out a brand-new pack of markers for this. And the magnet—he’s going to put these on his fridge, like that’s something that exists in his life—and now it does, this part of his family he thought was closed off to him forever.

And his world is different now. A little brighter, a little bigger, a little fuller.

Now all he has to do is protect it.

#rnmweek19 #roswellweek19 #alex manes #roswell new mexico #i promise that not all of my fics for this week are gonna involve this much fucking talking lmfao #i truly truly hope alex ends up able to have a real relationship with at least one member of his family

[alexkingstonflirt]

On a fairly regular basis, well-known actors come to the station for an interview. Because it's radio, they're often dressed down-they're expecting an audio treatment, not photos (except maybe some fan selfies with my colleagues). Sometimes they politely decline when I ask if I can make a portrait of them. I understand because they're so dependent on their face and their image for their livelihood. When they have studio shots done, there's a whole team for makeup and hair, plus an army of people assisting the photog, all trying to make this person look their best. But once in a while, you get someone so unpretentious, they just go for it and trust you. 

Exhibit A: Alex Kingston. In a t-shirt, no makeup, and her trademark mane of red curls piled on top of her head, she kindly gave me this photo, which shows off her incredible multi-colored eyes framed by those aforementioned locks. Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, she's a versatile and hard-working actor active on stage, screen, and television since the early 1980's, but in Britain and the U.S. She's most famous for her title roll in The Fortune and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders, as River Song in Dr. Who, and as Elizabeth Corday for 12 seasons of E.R. Zoom in and check out those eyes. You won't be disappointed!

Photographer: Jason, @lanskymob

#alex kingston #doctor who #river song #photography #bloddy hell #how can one woman be so gorgeous #im in awe of you miss kingston

[befitandchase]

136: “Give me back my phone! ”

Private Eyes

It starts out innocently enough. Alex sits quietly at the bar, taking a slow drag of his beer when the cell phone beside his coaster lights up with a text.

Guerin: wyd?

Alex has the presence of mind to ignore it as he puts his beer down and glances around the Wild Pony. It’s a slow Tuesday night, mostly regulars scattered around the bar as Maria flits back and forth between customers, eyeing him every once in a while before mixing another drink or opening another beer bottle.

His phone lights up again.

Guerin: Pissing the night away?

Alex has to hold back the snort that threatens to escape his body. He picks up the phone and finally opens his text messages.

Alex: Chumbawamba? Really, Guerin?

He rolls his eyes before setting the phone back down on the bar top and grabbing his beer for another sip. It lights back up immediately.

Guerin: I figured it’d be that or you’d be at home, all alone.

Even through his texts, Alex can picture the smirk on Michael’s face. He simply puts his phone down again, takes another sip of beer, and waits. Michael isn’t done yet. Not even close. The man has serious problems when it comes to texting. Once he starts, there’s no stopping him.

It’s only a matter of moments before another text comes through.

Guerin: I’m guessing you’re at the Pony taking advantage of Maira’s “free drinks for friends” special, aren’t you?

With an exasperated sigh, Alex opens his texts again and shoots back a reply.

Alex: As a matter of fact, I am. What’s it to you?

Guerin: Nothing.

There’s a little purple smiling devil emoji attached to it that makes Alex’s brows crease as he stares at the text for several moments. What is Michael really up to? That emoji means he’s up to no good, and Alex is on the receiving end of whatever mischievousness Michael has planned.

Three little dots appear on the screen signaling another incoming text. Except it isn’t a text. It’s a photo. A photo of Michael shirtless standing in front of a mirror, his curls matted in sweat, his skin glistening under the pale fluorescent lights of his Airstream.

Alex’s mouth goes dry as his eyes widen. Damn you, he thinks, suddenly wishing he wasn’t at the Wild Pony. The place was too open for these types of messages, especially with Maria hovering so close by. He swipes out of his text app and puts his phone face down on the bar top before taking a large swill of his beer.

Not long after, the faint glow of his phone lights up again with another text.

Guerin: Just finished working on my last car of the day. Thought you might like to know.

And god damn it, why does Michael have to say things like that? It’s bad enough the man has stolen Alex’s heart, now he’s stealing his breath too. He wants to put his phone down, ignore Michael’s text because he knows where it’ll lead, but he can’t bring himself to do it. Instead, Alex stares at the screen, wondering what Michael will say next.

Guerin: I know it’s getting late, so I’ll probably hit the sack soon.

Alex breathes a sigh of relief thinking maybe, just maybe, he’s been spared this one time, but he hasn’t. Those three dots appear again, and he swallows down the trepidation of what Michael might text him next.

Guerin: But first, I’m going to shower.

Images of Michael completely naked, his skin soaking beneath a spray of water suddenly invades Alex’s brain. Oh, no, he thinks. This was not how he wanted to spend his evening. He just wanted one night to himself, to his thoughts. One night of spending time with his best friend, who is now eyeing him from across the bar, brow arched as she stares at his flustered look.

Alex closes his eyes and takes a steadying breath before putting down his phone again. He signals to Maria that he needs another beer, but before she even grabs one out of the cooler, there’s another text lighting up his phone.

Guerin: I know what you’re thinking, Private.

A shiver runs down Alex’s spine. Fuck! He can barely contain the urge to slam his head on the bar top as Maria swings by with his second beer of the night.

“You okay?” she asks, eyeing him from behind the bar with one hand on her hip and the other on his drink.

“I’m fine!” It comes out an octave higher than Alex wants, earning him another scrutinizing gaze from his best friend.

“Sure,” is all Maria says before she walks away to take another customer’s order.

Alex is definitely not fine. He scowls at his phone, willing it to stop lighting up with texts from Michael, but willpower alone won’t work in this situation.

Guerin: You’re thinking about where you’d rather be right now.

Guerin: You’re thinking about me, naked.

Fuck! Alex can practically hear the seductive tone of Michael’s voice at that moment, calling out to him like a siren calls out to a sailor lost at sea. He wants to answer, wants to reply with something that’s witty and sarcastic, but he just can’t. Words have failed him as images take over his mind.

Guerin: A part of me wonders what you’d do to me if you were here right now.

Guerin: Would you be pushing me against the counter?

Guerin: How about into bed?

Guerin: Would you take my pants off with your teeth?

Alex is breathing heavily as the texts inundate his phone in rapid fire succession. His mouth goes dry as he stares at the screen. Everything Michael describes goes through his mind, the images as vivid as if he was with him right now. His jeans start to feel uncomfortable, and he tries to settle into a better position, but the friction caused by the stiff fabric rubs against him and he sucks in a shuddering breath.

Guerin: What about that mouth of yours?

Guerin: Where would you put it?

Guerin: My lips?

Guerin: My chest?

Guerin: Or would you go in straight for the grand prize?

Oh, god. Alex’s breathing falters. Michael has never been this explicit over text before. Sure, they’ve done dirty talk in the past, but it’s always been through an open line. Texting, it seems, has an even more powerful effect on Alex. He thinks it probably has something to do with his wild imagination, which is currently conjuring up images of exactly what Michael describes.

Before he has a chance to put the phone down and breath, another photo pops up, and this time, it makes Alex’s jaw seemingly unhinge. Michael laying in bed, his hand grasping the outline of his dick through his boxers.

Alex’s vision blacks out for a moment as his mind tries to process what’s happening. Some part of his brain knows what Michael is up to, but the signals to move, to grab his keys, to get in his car and drive to the junkyard can’t seem to reach his legs. So he just sits there, staring at his phone like an idiot as Maria walks past.

She stops, her eyes taking in the scene before her, the look of bewilderment etched on his face at what might have Alex so engrossed in his phone. He doesn’t notice, until it’s too late, and she’s plucking the phone from his fingers.

“Give me back my phone!” Alex practically shouts as he tries to scramble up over the bar, to no avail. Maria already has the device in her hand, her eyes moving over the screen as she reads what Michael has sent him.

“Oh, my god!” she screeches in disgust as she throws the phone back at him.

It would be funny if Alex isn’t so mortified. His face must be scarlet by now as he locks the screen and shoves the phone in his pocket. He wants to run and hide, maybe shove his head in the sand. Maria is his best friend, and she has seen some of the filthiest things anyone has ever texted him. Oh, god, this is not going to end well.

“I think I need to bleach my eyes,” Maria mutters under her breath before shaking her head and quickly composing herself. She turns to him a moment later, steely eyes and hands on hips. “Alex Manes!” she admonishes. “Here I was thinking you were above sexting, but then I had to see that.”

“Sorry,” his voice barely carries over the music, but she still hears him.

Maria looks him up and down, probably noticing just how red faced and embarrassed he is, and her features soften. She reaches over the bar and places a hand on his shoulder. “No, I’m sorry,” she says. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

Alex’s eyes shoot up to meet hers. There’s a small smile on her lips, one that conveys exactly what she’s thinking, what they’re both thinking. “You should go,” Maria adds. “Don’t wanna keep your boyfriend waiting.”

Setting a small pile of bills to take care of his tab, Alex hurriedly hops off the barstool and races toward the exit. Just as he throws himself into the driver’s seat of his car, he grabs his phone out of his pocket. By the mercy of God, Michael hasn’t sent him anymore texts. Alex decides it’s time to respond.

Alex: If by grand prize you mean riding you like a cowboy, I’ll be there in ten minutes.

Two can play this game, and Alex feels triumphant when his phone goes silent.

#malex fic #malex #roswell new mexico #chase writes new fic

[brideoffunkenstein]

Alex Kingston, portrait by Jason Marck

On a fairly regular basis, well-known actors come to the station for an interview. Because it’s radio, they’re often dressed down-they’re expecting an audio treatment, not photos (except maybe some fan selfies with my colleagues). Sometimes they politely decline when I ask if I can make a portrait of them. I understand because they’re so dependent on their face and their image for their livelihood. When they have studio shots done, there’s a whole team for makeup and hair, plus an army of people assisting the photog, all trying to make this person look their best. But once in a while, you get someone so unpretentious, they just go for it and trust you. Exhibit A: Alex Kingston. In a t-shirt, no makeup, and her trademark mane of red curls piled on top of her head, she kindly gave me this photo, which shows off her incredible multi-colored eyes framed by those aforementioned locks. Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, she’s a versatile and hard-working actor active on stage, screen, and television since the early 1980’s, but in Britain and the U.S. She’s most famous for her title roll in The Fortune and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders, as River Song in Dr. Who, and as Elizabeth Corday for 12 seasons of E.R.

#alex kingston #kingston edit #jason marck #my edit #mine #*

[dsmroleplay]

#ComingHome #DSM #RoswellNM #RP Part Six

Written by: @RoswellAlec @RoswellBadboy_

Alex was finally fit for work after being signed off and back on duty with an addition that he was to report to his supervisor. He was to be on desk duty and to monitor the tv screens in those cells. This wasn't the job he wanted but at least he was back at work. When he was at home with his family at the Manes household. Back in his old room which was okay. The room was a basic room with no photos. Alex took this as he has just returned home from a tour. 

When he started to get dressed, putting on his uniform for the first time that seemed like a while. When he looked at himself in the mirror everything seemed fine at the time. Sometimes when he walked into the kitchen the conversation would just stop between his father and his siblings. Alex just took it in his strait with his disability with his leg. With his brother Gregory just looking at him with a look and would turn away. Alex took that his brother wasn't dealing with Alex losing his leg. He wanted to talk to Gregory but every time he tried Gregory was in a hurry or their father would call him or Gregory away. When his brother was sitting at the dining table with a coffee when Alex went over to fix himself a coffee. “hi Gregory. How are doing? Are you okay? He asked. 

When their father walked in to break up the conversation. Alex, you better go to work you don't want to be late for your first day back do you? “ when Alex nodded to his Father. “Yes Sir. Gregory do you want to go for a beer later? He asked. As Alex put his jacket on taking a few sips of his coffee “Sorry Alex, not today it's a bad time. Alex faced dropped and nodded Okay Gregory. Let me know when it suits you, he responded before leaving to drive myself to the compound. Alex had to go through the right protocol and procedures before taking on his new role. 

A few hours into his shift his supervisor had been pulled away with a personal call. When Alex was alone when he was watching the cells that seemed to be empty and were watching just empty cells which were boring. With some interfering with the screen going all snowy with an image of someone or something laid out of a bed possible strapped down that caught Alex attention. The view on the screen wasn't clear with all the interference he waited for and hopes the screen would become clearer. When he tries to figure out what the image was on the screen.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Michael lay still restrained and his mind was a jumbled mess of dreams so he thought. Today they planned to open his skull and see how human his anatomy was and take some tissue samples. They had also discussed an implant that would remotely detonate if triggered. Fry his brain in case he ever got out or they decided to do field testing. As two armed soldiers came in three medical staff entered the cell as well and put him onto a gurney then wheeled him out of the room heading for the lab

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alex had been doing his investigation on this case and what was his father hiding for him on these holding cells. Something just didn't add up. Alex may have forgotten what has happened to him and has no memory over the last year's but he had a flashback of the service of his time in the wars. He would have a nightmare of the men he has lost and he was working his way through these nightmares. Making notes and trying to find his true friends how some reason he couldn't remember anything. In his bedroom, he was gathering up a real picture with the pictures he had with his squat in a scrapbook he keeps locked away. 

Alex has even managed to find contracts to his old squat but somehow he can't remember if he actually has any friends here in Roswell. Well, that will come for another day. On his way to work. The security was tight at his work with only a select few soldiers were on-site and CCTV. Parking up and making his way through the security gate on his way to his desk. He sat and watched the cells that he hadn't had access to but he could watch on Cctv. He was just to watch and report, Unknowing of what we're being held in the cells. The image of the man laying tied up in the cell a few days back played in his head. Why was his father keeping prisoners strained up? Was this national security breach or just him. Alex was doing his job of observing the situation but he didn't always report to his supervision because his gut was telling him something was wrong. When we went home that night. Alex made some calls to some of his friends who was home on leave for their service. 

Making plans to meet with them with no ears or eyes because he knew he needed some help that wasn't in contacted with his father, his brothers or the soldiers who worked under his father. Alex had been getting her up all the information on the building of the blueprints knowing something was going down and their way to access the build. He even copies a few soldier key cards to give to his friends. Know this is the way they could get in when the time came. Alex always knew this needed to be an inside job. When his friends agreed to help but just needed the word and they would be ready. 

His team of friend would surveil the camp from the outside and Alex would do the same from the inside. In the next few days, Alex was quiet at work as he didn't know who he could trust when he watched the three soldiers making their way to the cell. Taking the prisoner from the cell. This was the first time he had saw anyone going near the cells. He thought to himself what was happening to his man. When he knew something needed to be done. Alex knows how t give him some time to bring down the CCTV when he hacked into the system to bring down the system. He knows he had around twenty minutes to go and have a look. 

When he left his office and followed the soldiers to whatever they were talking this prisoner. Keeping a small distance he followed them to a restricted lab. As he couldn't get through to the lab without the right key card. He watched through the door of the lab. Hearing a drill. He knew this was wrong but didn't know why this was happening. When he sends out a code word to his friends that he needed to react and take an assaulted on this building now. Alex needed to find a way to hack his door for his friends coming. -

#DSM RNM RP

[rowellalec]

#Hatebackfires #Part2

Written by @RoswellBadboy_ and @Roswellalec

Michael - -Days stretched on and Michael was subjected to test after test. They gave him sodium pentothal with each interrogation along with sedatives afterwards gleaning that he could move things with his mind. They figured he might be able to break out if he ever was totally conscious and alert. He was in a sleepy haze most days and barely knew his own name. His body gaunt now, even loosing muscle mass from lack of exercise and poor diet.

Alex - Alex was finally fit for work after being signed off and back on duty with an addition that he was to report to his supervisor. He was to be on desk duty and to monitor the tv screens in those cells. This wasn't the job he wanted but at least he was back at work. When he was at home with his family at the Manes household. Back in his old room which was okay. The room was a basic room with no photos. Alex took this as he has just returned home from a tour. When he started

to get dressed, putting on his uniform for the first time that seemed like a while. When he looked at himself in the mirror everything seemed fine at the time. Sometimes when he walked into the kitchen the conversation would just stop between his father and his siblings. Alex just took it in his strait with his disability with his leg. With his brother Gregory just looking at him with a look and would turn away. Alex took that his brother wasn't dealing with Alex losing his leg. He wanted to talk to Gregory but every time he tried Gregory was in a hurry or their father would call him or Gregory away. When his brother was sitting at the dining table with a coffee when Alex went over to fix himself a coffee. “hi Gregory. How are doing? Are you okay? He asked. When their father walked in to break up the conversation. Alex, you better go to work you don't want to be late for your first day back do you? “ when Alex nodded to his Father. “Yes Sir. Gregory do you want to go fora beer later? He asked. As Alex put his jacket on taking a few sips of his coffee “Sorry Alex, not today it's a bad time. Alex faced dropped and nodded Okay Gregory. Let me know when it suits you, he responded before leaving to drive myself to the compound. Alex had to go through the right protocol and procedures before taking on his new role. A few hours into his shift his supervisor had been pulled away with a personal call. When Alex was alone when he was watching the cells that seemed to be empty and were watching just empty cells which were boring. With some interfering with the screen going all snowy with an image of someone or something laid out of a bed possible strapped down that caught Alex attention. The view on the screen wasn't clear with all the interference he waited and hopes the screen would become clearer. When he tries to figure out what the image was on the screen.

Michael - -Michael lay still restrained and his mind was a jumbled mess of dreams so he thought. Today they planned to open his skull and see how human his anatomy was and take some tissue samples. They had also discussed an implant that would remotely detonate if triggered. Fry his brain in case he ever got out or they decided to do field testing. As two armed soldiers came in three medical staff entered the cell as well and put him onto a gurney then wheeled him out of the room heading for the lab

 

Alex - Alex had been doing his investigation on this case and what was his father hiding for him on these holding cells. Something just didn't add up. Alex may have forget what has happened to him and has no memory over the last year's but he had flash back of his service of his time in the wars. He would have nightmare of the men he has lost and he was working his way through these nightmares. Making notes and trying to find his true friends how some reason he couldn't remember anything. In his bedroom he was gathering up a real picture with the pictures he had with his squat in a scrap book he keep locked away. Alex has even managed to find contracts to his old squat but somehow he can't remember if he actually has any friends here in Roswell. Well that will come for another day. On his way to work. The security was tight at his work with only a select few soldiers were on-site and CCTV. Parking up and making his way through the security gate on his way to his desk. He sat and watched the cells that he hadn't had access to but he could watch on Cctv. He was just to watch and report, Unknowing of what we're being held in the cells. The image of the man laying tied up in the cell a few days back played in his head. Why was his father keeping prisoners strained up? Was this nation security breach or just him. Alex was doing his job of observing the situation but he didn't always report to his supervision because his gut was telling him something was wrong. When we went home that night. Alex made some calls to some of his friends who was home on leave for their service. Making plans to meet with them with no ears or eyes because he knew he needed some help that wasn't in contacted with his father, his brothers or the soldiers who worked under his father. Alex had been getting her up all the information on the building of the blueprints knowing something was going down and their way to access the build. He even copy a few soldier key cards to give them to his friends. Know this is the way they could get in when the time came. Alex always knew this needed to be inside job. When his friends agreed to help but just needed the word and they would be ready. His team of friend would surveil the camp from the outside and Alex would do the same from the inside. In the next few days, Alex was quiet at work as he didn't know who he could trust when he watched the three soldiers making their way to the cell. Taking the prisoner from the cell. This was the first time he had saw anyone going near the cells. He thought to himself what was happening to his man. When he knew something needed to be done. Alex knows how t give him some time to bring down the CCTV when he hacked into the system to bring down the system. He knows he had around twenty minutes to go and have a look. When he left his office and followed the soldiers to whatever they were talking this prisoner. Keeping a small distance he followed them to a restricted lab. As he couldn't get through to the lab without the right key card. He watched through the door of the lab. Hearing a drill. He knew this was wrong but didn't know why this was happening. When he sends out a code word to his friends that he needed to react and take an assaulted on this building now. Alex needed to find a way to hack his door for his friends coming. -