The Pathway is Broken (CC/AU, TEEN) Pts. 18 & 19 07/03/0

[cardinalgirl]

Title: The Pathway is Broken

Author: cardinalgirl

Rating: Teen

Disclaimer: Roswell does not belong to me, and neither does Ginny Owens.

Summary: AU. There is no one else in the world like Michael Guerin. You see, Michael Guerin is an alien. His best friend Liz Parker has spent the last three years guarding his secret, but when a gun goes off in her father’s café and she almost dies, Liz is suddenly brought face to face with the possibility that maybe Michael isn’t so alone after all. As one event leads to another, three groups of close friends are forced to learn to depend on each other. Can eight people searching for the truth learn to trust each other?

Author’s Note: This is my own reimagining of the story we know and love, starting with things (people) a little mixed around. The twist? All of the main characters know that aliens exist before the shooting in the Crashdown Café, but none of them know that there are actually four aliens in Roswell, as Tess was never with Nesado, but was adopted by guess who

Basically this is my shot at really playing with things. I'll be picking and choosing from canon, might dip into the books a little... Things may or may not mean what they did on the show, etc.

Category: AU. CC, and that's all the reassurance you're gonna get.

I don't think this is going to be a particularly controversial story, but I thought I'd put it here in the Alien Abyss just in case.

Thanks to Anniepoo98 for the beautiful banner, and Quint for letting me (or making me, you know, whichever...) bounce ideas off of him and screening me.

****************


The pathway is broken,
the signs are unclear
and I don't know the reason
why you brought me here
but just because you love me
the way that you do
I will go through the valley
if you want me to


****************

Prologue

September 20, 1999

Third period was when Michael Guerin started to breathe. It wasn’t until third period that he ever truly woke up, that he ever even started living.

Because since school had started again, third period was usually his first chance to see Liz Parker.

Liz had been Michael’s salvation, his lifeline, since he was about eight years old. While he’d seen her at school before that, they’d never had any of the same teachers, and he thanked his lucky stars every day that he’d met her then. It was the one thing fate had ever done right for him, giving him Liz Parker.

He still remembered everything about the day they met. He’d tried using food stamps at the cafeteria, because Hank had taken all of his designated lunch money and spent it on treating a “lady friend” to a drink or two. Mr. Trevors had thrown Michael out of the cafeteria, muttering about “welfare punks”… right in front of little Lizzie Parker.

He remembered how his cheeks had burned when he’d met Lizzie’s big brown eyes, wide with shock and sorrow. He’d tried walking past her, forgetting it had ever happened, but she’d run after him, grabbed his hand and pulled him to the lunch tables with her. “Mom always makes me two sandwiches, even though I can’t eat them. Two sandwiches? I mean, that’s way too much food for me, I’m so little and all…”

Liz talked his head off all the rest of lunch, which would have annoyed him in most cases, but he knew she was doing it to keep the focus off of him, so that he wouldn’t have to be embarrassed. She gave him a turkey sandwich and a huge chocolate muffin, which she said she definitely couldn’t eat. “Mom knows these things are too sweet for me, they almost make me sick sometimes…”

When the lunch bell rang, she smiled at him. “See you tomorrow?”

Michael had been dumbfounded. “Um… sure.” She’d been walking away when he’d grabbed onto her arm, pulling her around. “Sorry… what was your name?”

It was her turn to blush beet red. “Liz. Liz Parker. My daddy calls me Lizzie, but most everybody just calls me Liz.”

He smiled at her. “Okay, Lizzie. I’m Michael.”

He didn’t really expect to see her the next day. After all, he’d been a trouble kid, and he didn’t have friends. Especially not friends like Liz Parker. He could tell just by looking at her. She was one of those smart ones, one of the good kids that never did anything wrong. She’d been too good for him then, and she was too good for him now.

But sure enough, she had found him the next day, and spent the entire lunch period with him. He hadn’t been smart enough to know a good thing when he saw it, though, and he wasn’t ready to trust anybody who might feel sorry for him, so he ended up pushing her away. “Get lost, I don’t need you. I don’t need anybody.”

He’d told himself he was doing it for her own good. She didn’t really want to be friends with him, anyway. He was giving her a way out.

But he’d known he’d hurt her, and it was the first time he’d cared more about somebody else’s hurting than his own. He’d expected to see her get back to her friends, but for the next week and a half he watched her eat lunch alone, and he finally realized that she didn’t have any friends, either. She was just as lonely as he was.

It took him another week to finally get up the courage to go sit down next to her, apologize for being such a jerk. He was amazed when she didn’t even hold it against him, she was just glad to be friends with him.

It wasn’t long before he knew everything there was to know about Liz Parker. She was definitely a daddy’s girl, and while she was treated like a princess at home, at school she was scorned by nearly everybody. No one liked her. She was the class brain, and she was teased mercilessly about it.

Michael stepped into the role of protector, which became easier the next year, when they were put into the same fourth grade class. By then, their biggest opposition was from the teachers, who didn’t want a screwball troublemaker like Michael Guerin around their star pupil. Luckily for him, Liz would have none of it, and every time they tried to… persuade Liz to keep away from him, she was only more determined to stick by him.

It took more than a year for Michael to get over the feeling of amazement when he’d see her coming at him in the morning with this smile on her face like he was the only person she wanted to see. She really was the only person he wanted to see most of the time.

He thought it had something to do with the way she glowed an amber energy. He couldn’t really explain it… He guessed that’s what people meant by an aura. It wasn’t that he literally saw the color amber when he saw her, it was more like he knew somehow that if her energy—her soul, her laugh—did have a color, it would be a warm, comforting amber color.

By the time they entered junior high they were virtually inseparable, but that didn’t mean that they had no secrets between them. There’d been things about Michael that he was sure no one could understand, not even his own Lizzie Parker.

Because Michael Guerin was an alien. Actually, he didn’t really know what he was, but when you grow up in Roswell, New Mexico, and you have powers that no one else has, alien seems to be a reasonable guess. All he really knew about himself was that he was found wandering the highway when he was about six years old. He didn’t remember anything before that. He sometimes wondered what Liz would think if she knew about his powers, but telling her wasn‘t even a consideration. He couldn’t tell anyone. He was different. And different was dangerous.

His mysterious powers—which generally had to do with things exploding—weren’t the only things he was hiding from Liz, and when she finally did learn all his secrets, it wasn’t the fact that he had secret powers that upset her. Hank Whitmore was Michael’s foster father. While Liz had always known that, it wasn’t until one day in the summer after seventh grade, when she had shown up unexpectedly at the Chisholm Trail Trailer Park, that she knew exactly what having Hank Whitmore as a foster father truly entailed.

Michael remembered being so mad when he opened the door of his trailer home to see Liz there. There she was, perfect Liz Parker standing on the doorstep of what was probably the most indecent living abode in all of Roswell. That hadn’t been what had made him mad, though. What made him mad was the fact that she looked absolutely terrified to be there.

It didn’t help that he’d had a bruise the size of New Mexico on his arm. Before he let her in, he ran back into his room to grab a long sleeved button-up shirt to pull on as a jacket, and by the time he’d gotten back to the front door, Hank had found Liz, and was breathing whiskey onto her.

“Didn’t know Mickey knew such pretty little girls,” he was saying, and with each word Michael could see Liz shrinking a little more.

“Hank, get the hell away from her,” Michael yelled, pushing past the older man and stepping in front of Liz.

“Oh, you’re a tough guy now, eh?” Hank had asked, sarcastically. “Weren’t quite so tough last night, though, were you?” To emphasize his point, he grabbed Michael by the arm where the bruise was, and Michael couldn’t stop himself from shouting out. Big mistake.

Liz had suddenly stepped in front of him. “Stop, it you’re hurting him!” she’d screamed, pulling at Hank’s arm. Hank had shrugged her off as if Liz was no more than a fly and Liz fell hard, hitting her face. When she stood up she’d had a cut on her cheek.

Things got fuzzy after that, but somehow the two of them got past Hank and outside, and they ran all the way to a park a few blocks down. Hank hadn’t bothered running after them, luckily, but they would have run anyhow. When they got to the park, Michael pulled Liz into a little group of trees.

“Is he… is he always like that?” Liz had asked, gasping for breath. He knew that she wasn’t worried for herself—had even forgotten the cut on her cheek—she was worried about him.

He really wasn’t in the mood to talk about Hank, though. “Are you okay?” he’d asked, wiping some of the blood off of her cheek. “I’m so sorry about that. I can’t believe I let that happen to you.”

She wouldn’t listen to him, though, and pulled his hands away from her face, holding onto them. “Michael, does he hurt you? Does he do that all the time?”

“Liz, he doesn’t hurt me, okay? I can take care of myself.”

She shook her head, furious for him now. “Don’t lie to me, Michael.”

Knowing she wouldn’t stop until he convinced her, he’d taken her face in his hands and stared into her eyes until she calmed down. “I’m okay, Liz. He was just drunk. It doesn’t happen a lot.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Now, just let me…” He’d closed his eyes, concentrated, and when he pulled his hand away, her cheek was once again flawless.

Liz had jumped back about a foot when she touched her healed cheek. “What… Michael… what just happened?” she’d asked, face white.

He hadn’t been able to look her in the face, though. How could he have done that? She was going to think he was a freak. She was going to turn away from him. He knew it.

“Michael?” When she said his name again, though, small and curious instead of the reproachful voice he’d been expecting, he knew he was wrong.

He’d sighed. “It was nothing. I just… I just fixed it is all.”

“You fixed it?” Still her voice was simply curious. Well, more like fascinated. All in the name of science, that was his Lizzie.

Of course that was half the reason he hadn’t told her before. Scientists were the ones who dissected aliens.

There was no turning back, though. He cleared his throat. “I… healed you. It’s really not a big deal,” he’d mumbled, knowing she was staring at him.

“Not a big deal? Michael!” She was touching her cheek where the cut had been.

“Just… forget about it, could you, Liz?”

She shook her head. “Michael, you’re my best friend, and you know everything there is to know about me. Don’t you trust me?”

He sighed. “Liz, of course I trust you. You’re the only person in the world that I trust.”

She nodded, and sat down on the grass, pulling at his hand so he’d sit down next to her. “So tell me.”

And so he had. He’d told her about how he’d been found in the desert when he was six years old, and he didn’t remember anything before that. He told her about the time he’d found out about his powers—ruining the dinner he’d been making for Hank in the process, and how Hank had thought he was worthless ever since.

Liz had listened to him, crying for him as he told his story. “I just… I guess I didn’t want you to think I was worthless, too.”

At his words, she had thrown herself at him, hugging him tightly for several moments. It had been the first time he’d realized how soft her hair was, how great it smelled. It was the first time he’d really realized that he was in love with her.

Since that day he had spent more and more time with her, was at the Crashdown Café, the restaurant her father owned, almost every day. He knew the Parkers well, and had been working there as a short-order cook for almost a year. He was the only guy Jeff Parker even trusted around his daughter, one thing Michael was eternally grateful for.

Michael snapped back to reality when Liz finally made it into their class. She looked shaken, almost scared. Michael was instantly concerned. She walked quickly to sit down next to him, not taking her eyes away from him for an instant.

“Michael… I’ve been trying to call you… Did you hear about what happened at the Crashdown yesterday?”

Yesterday had been his day off, but Michael had heard one or two people saying something had happened. It was probably in the papers, but Hank wasn’t exactly an up-on-your-community kind of guy, and Michael hadn’t had time to buy one this morning. “I heard there was some kind of scene with an angry customer…”

Liz shook her head and leaned into him, close enough for him to smell the vanilla lotion she used. “Michael, it was much more than that… You can‘t tell anyone about it, and I promise I’ll explain later, but…” She leaned in even closer to whisper in his ear. “Michael… I was shot yesterday.”

[cardinalgirl]

Part 1

The day before.

Alex Whitman stared at his orange soda, intent on seeing as little as possible of what was going on across the table from him, where his best friend was steadily working his way down his little sister’s neck.

He cleared his throat loudly. “You know, no offense, but I liked you guys both a lot better before you started sucking face.”

Tess Whitman giggled, and rolled her eyes at her brother, but pulled away from Kyle Valenti slightly.

“Sorry, Alex. I can’t help it if your sister is totally hot for me.” Kyle watched in satisfaction as both Whitmans’ faces turned bright red, Tess from embarrassment and Alex from anger.

“I swear, Valenti, you keep saying things like that and I’m going to wring your neck.”

Kyle grinned. “That makes five hundred and thirty-two times that you’ve threatened my life since I started dating Tess.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “You’re just lucky that you were my friend first and that I already trusted you. Otherwise I would have killed you for even looking at my baby sister.”

As much as he wanted to hit Kyle sometimes, Alex had to admit that he was extremely glad he’d accidentally found out about Tess a few years ago—he’d walked in on Tess redecorating her room once, painting without paint, things like that. After a few days of freaking out, Kyle was surprisingly okay with the whole thing. That was the main reason that Alex was okay with Kyle falling all over Tess—he had accepted her without question—and all three of them knew it.

“Alex, we’ve been over this,” Tess cut into his thoughts now. “I’m exactly the same age as you. Actually, technically, I’m probably around half a century older than you.”

Alex did a quick scan to make sure nobody was around, and then turned on her. “You wanna say that a little bit louder, Tessie? Why not call up MSNBC and tell them you’re trying to take over the planet.”

Tess looked slightly annoyed, but she only shook her head. “That’d be ruining my surprise.”

Alex sighed. He knew that he was kind of hard on her sometimes, but he couldn’t help it. Tess’ non-human status really worried him sometimes. He couldn’t help but flashback to the time when he’d been out with his parents and they’d found her on the side of the highway, lost and alone. She’d been about six years old, but she couldn’t speak a word. For the first month or so after his parents had adopted her, he was the only one she would even try to communicate with, which she later admitted was because she’d been afraid of the “big people.” Of course she eventually came around and got used to their parents, and other people, but she and Alex had always had a special bond. Alex was her confidante, her protector, and her best friend. Since they were in the same grade at school, a lot of times people simply assumed Tess was Alex’s twin, and both Whitmans liked it that way.

Alex was thinking about apologizing to Tess, but before he could think of anything to say, the lunch bell rang, and they had to head to class. Tess, always in tune with him, though, gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek before going on her way. “Don’t worry, Alex, I know you’re just looking out for me.”

Alex couldn’t help but smile. He could always count on Tess to understand exactly what he was thinking. Alex shook his head as he walked towards his history class, still smiling, but as soon as he entered the classroom, the smile sort of slid off his face.

Another class with Isabel Evans. He really didn’t know how long he could take this…

Isabel Evans was the meanest, coldest, most hard-hearted woman walking the halls of West Roswell High, and as a sophomore, that was quite an accomplishment. Unfortunately for Alex—and most of the rest of the male population at WRH—that also made Isabel Evans the hottest, most desired, most sought-after commodity out there. Not that anyone ever even got close to actually experiencing Isabel Evans. It was rumored that she only dated college guys, and the only guy at school she would even deign to speak with was her twin brother Max. She treated every other guy in school like something incredibly distasteful that she’d stepped in with her designer shoes. Alex had dealt with the feeling firsthand, more than once, after all.

What really drove him crazy, though, was the fact that there were moments—rare, but unmistakable—when the veneer cracked. There were moments when the Ice Princess act failed, and Isabel became a living, breathing teenage girl. And it was those moments that made it impossible for him to hate her.

Kyle had always thought he was insane. “The girl is an icebox, Alex. Ask anybody. She simply has no soul.” But then again, Valenti wasn’t always the most in-depth guy on the planet.

Tess had never approved of his seeming obsession with Isabel either, but that was almost a jealousy issue. Isabel had been the first girl to ever distract Alex from his kid sister, who had always been his absolute pet.

He couldn’t help it, though. Isabel was a bit of a conundrum, and that made her utterly fascinating. At school she was only ever seen with the highest of the highest class of girls available—though she outshone them all—but outside of school Alex had only ever seen her with her brother and that crazy DeLuca girl. Alex wanted to roll his eyes at the very thought. That girl had problems.

Also, Max Evans and Maria DeLuca were definitely not on the top of the social scale. Why would the queen of the Comets—their incredibly inventive mascot… at least they weren’t the Martians or something…—spend the majority of her extra-curricular time with her dorky brother and his mentally-unstable best friend? Alex shook his head, slightly. He sounded like a stalker, but he couldn’t help it. It was a small town, after all.

At that moment Isabel Evans glanced up at him and their eyes met. He was surprised to see the color in her cheeks darken a shade at his intense stare, and he pulled his gaze away quickly, rushing to his seat and sitting down.

*************

Isabel Evans swallowed hard as Alex Whitman sat down in the seat diagonally behind her own. There was something about that guy that unnerved her. Every time their eyes met it was like he was looking straight through her. It was like he knew something about her… like he knew her secret or something.

Well, it wasn’t like he knew her secret. Isabel allowed herself a smile at the thought. If he knew that secret he’d be running through the halls screaming about government conspiracies or something—he seemed like that type.

But he looked at her like he knew the secret to her soul or something. It was disturbing. She’d known the guy forever, had seen him around since elementary school—it was a small town, after all—but she’d barely ever even talked to him.

She’d thought about becoming friends with his sister. Tess Whitman had what it took to be one of the elite, if she put the effort into it. Unfortunately for her, though, Tess was entirely too nice to really make the cut. Which no doubt came from spending way too much time with her dorky twin. Because everyone knew Alex Whitman was a dork. A computer geek with an odd affinity to dodge ball. No chance at social status whatsoever. No chance at Isabel Evans.

There was no explaining him being best friends with the sheriff’s son. Kyle Valenti. Now there was a person that had never made sense to Isabel. Kyle was the captain of both the basketball and the baseball team, and was the best wrestler at school. The guy could have any girl in school he wanted—with the obvious exception of herself—and yet he consistently chose to spend all of his free time with the Whitman twins.

She’d tried telling Max and Maria about how strange Alex made her feel at times, but she’d gotten nowhere there. Those two never seemed to take her seriously when it came to anything about the people at school. Sure they had her back if anything really important happened, but most of the time they didn’t give her much credit. She couldn’t believe that her fashion queen act was beginning to fool the only two people who really knew her.

Which was exactly why Alex disturbed her so much. Façades that worked even on Max and Maria never seemed to work for him, and she didn’t even know the guy. But somehow he was always calling her bluffs, and letting her know he did it. She remembered half a dozen instances where she’d said something in class that she didn’t really mean, they were just things that Isabel Evans would say, things that were expected of her. Whenever Alex heard her saying something like that, he’d turn around and give her this look as if chiding her, and she could almost hear his voice low in her ear. “Was that really necessary?”

Isabel shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts from her mind, but she could feel his eyes on her, even now. She was used to being looked at, of course, but this intensity from Alex Whitman, those blue eyes cutting through all her layers… it was getting to be too much for her. She didn’t know how much longer she could take this.

[cardinalgirl]

Part 2

“Do you think I should get a Blood of Alien Smoothie, or an Alien Blast?” Maria DeLuca asked, staring at a brightly-colored menu. When her friend made no response, she kicked him under the table and waved a hand in front of his face. “Hello? Earth to Max Evans.”

Max looked as if he’d been woken from a daze. “Sorry, Ria… what?”

Maria glanced over her shoulder and found the reason for his distraction, not that she couldn’t have guessed. She sighed, annoyed. “Why don’t you just ask her out already?”

Max’s eyebrows rose in surprise, and the tips of his ears were suddenly tinged with red. “What are you talking about?”

She rolled her eyes. “Max, I’m your best friend. I can usually tell what’s going on in your head. And let me tell you… your obsession with Liz I’m-a-Brain Parker is reaching an unhealthy level. Either ask her out or get over her already.”

Max rolled his eyes in an attempt to look nonchalant. “I’m not obsessed with Liz Parker. And she’s not a brain. I mean, yeah, she’s really smart, but it’s more than th—”

Max cut himself off as his attention was suddenly drawn to the other side of the room where an argument between what looked like two truckers exploded in yelling.

Before he could even blink, one of them had pulled out a gun, and suddenly the world was moving in slow motion. Max watched as the hammer was cracked and the trigger was pulled, could feel the slight vibration the bullet made as it spun straight through the air.

Worst of all, he heard the thud of impact, heard the soft gasp of breath as Liz Parker was hit and fell to the ground.

In another instant the world regained its speed, and he was out of the booth before he’d even realized he’d moved. Maria was pulling at his arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”

It didn’t take much strength to pull out of her grasp, though. This was Liz Parker they were talking about. And he wasn’t obsessed with her. He… loved her. He did. He couldn’t even explain it, but it was true. He always had.

She couldn’t die.

Something in the back of his mind was listening as Maria corralled away the other people who’d gotten up to see if Liz was okay, but the majority of his concentration was on the girl by whose side he was already kneeling. Luckily, Liz had fallen behind the counter, so no one would be able to see anything… Hopefully.

He was pressing his hand over the wound, but it would never be enough. There was so much blood… He ripped open her waitress uniform and then gently lifted her head.

“Liz… Liz, you have to look at me. You have to open you eyes and look at me, Liz, please…”

Slowly, ever so slowly, her eyelids flickered and lifted. He was amazed at how quickly the connection was made between them, and for half a moment, Max was lost in a torrent of images, thoughts and feelings, all Liz.

There was a dress with cupcakes on it, the first time she’d smelled sulfer in a chemistry lab. Helping her dad balance the register at night. And Michael Guerin. Lots and lots of images and protective feelings for her friend Michael Guerin. Max was amazed that a part of him could still manage to get jealous when her life was at stake.

When he pushed himself past the images, it was suddenly as if he and Liz were exactly the same person, and he had to consciously remind himself that it was not him that had been shot. He found the bullet first, and since he didn’t know how much lead could cause lead poisoning, he changed the molecules into iron before dissolving the bullet and letting the metal molecules be swept into her bloodstream.

He focused on the tears in her muscle and flesh then, pushing and almost weaving her molecules back together, and when he was finished he moved his hand, revealing unmarred skin.

“You’re okay now,” he managed, shakingly.

Liz’s eyes had reclosed for a moment, but now she was starting to sit up, staring at him. Max knew he didn’t have much time, and in desperation he grabbed at a bottle of ketchup that was under the counter, smashing it against the wall and pouring the contents over Liz.

“You broke the bottle when you fell,” he said, staring deep into her eyes. “Don’t tell anyone, please.”

He gave one backward glance as he headed out the door, was relieved to see that she was already standing, and staring at him. She’s going to be okay. He tossed his keys to Maria, but he didn’t even realize that he’d gotten into the Jeep until she pulled it into park in front of his house.

What had he just done?

*************

“And what exactly was so important that I had to come home immediately?” Isabel demanded, as soon as she got in the door. “I have social obligations, Max. I know you two don’t really understand what that’s like, but I do have a life.”

She was expecting Max or Maria to roll their eyes about her “social obligations,” like they usually did, but they both looked afraid to even look her in the eye. As she followed them into the kitchen of the Evans home, Max seemed preoccupied, and Maria the Loquacious just looked like she didn’t want to talk. And then the frisson of fear she’d been fighting since she’d gotten Maria’s call suddenly flamed up, and she turned, terrified, to face her brother.

She took in his guilty countenance and shook her head. “No… Max… what did you do?”

Max rubbed his face, suddenly feeling very tired. Healing Liz had taken a lot of energy. “There was an argument at the Crashdown,” was all he could think to say.

“There was an argument?” she repeated dumbly. That made absolutely no sense to Isabel. “Max, what did you do?”

Maria started in then, in a wooden voice. “There were two men fighting about money… it sounded bad… and then a gun went off…” she looked up at Isabel, “hitting Max’s favorite waitress.”

Isabel felt her knees go weak and the bottom of her stomach fall out. “Max…”

He looked up. “I couldn’t just let her die, Isabel.”

Isabel shrank into a chair, momentarily dizzy. “So you healed in public? You healed in public?!” She rose from the chair angrily. “Max, how could you do this? Did you even think?”

“Of course not, it was Liz Parker,” Maria said, and Max glared at her.

“Did you even think about me? Did you consider for a moment that it wasn’t just your own life you were putting on the line there?”

“Iz, of course I thought about you, but what could I do? She was going to die.” He sighed deeply, looking away from her, and when he spoke again his voice was little more than a whisper. “I could never live with myself if I’d let that happen, you know that.”

“And you think she’s just going to keep this to herself?” Isabel scoffed. “She’s in the science club, Max. You just gave her proof that alien life exists. You think she’s not going to just sell you out the first chance she gets?”

“Liz isn’t like that.”

“And how do you know? You’re what, her lab partner? You barely know her, Max.”

“Iz… I… I connected with her. When I healed her. I got all these images and feelings…” he met his sister’s eyes as if making a promise. “She’s not that kind of person.”

Isabel slumped, suddenly feeling exhausted. “Did anybody see you?”

Max shook his head, quickly. “Maria took care of that.”

Isabel turned to look at Maria, but the smaller blonde seemed to almost shrink at her gaze.

“Didn’t you, Maria?” Max begged.

Maria couldn’t look at either of them. “I think we may have a problem.”

“What? Maria, you cleared everybody out, I saw you.”

Maria nodded. “I thought I did. But I didn’t see him. And by the time I did I think it was too late…”

“Maria, what are you talking about?” Isabel demanded.

Maria finally managed to look up into Isabel’s eyes. She swallowed hard before speaking. “Alex Whitman. He was sitting at the bar.” She turned an apologetic face to Max. “Max, I think he saw you.”

[cardinalgirl]

Part 3

Isabel thought she was going to faint. “Alex… Alex Whitman?” she asked Maria, praying she’d heard wrong.

Maria swallowed. “Yeah… but I can’t be sure. I mean, we had to leave, so I didn’t exactly get a chance to interrogate him or anything,” Maria tried to smile, but only managed a slight grimace.

Isabel’s world was spinning, and she slowly sat down. Alex Whitman saw Max heal Liz Parker. Alex Whitman saw Max heal Liz Parker. It was such a simple sentence, but as it repeated over and over in her mind, its meaning became more and more complex. Alex Whitman knew that something was different about Max, which meant that he’d probably assume there was something different about her, too.

And then he would know her secret.

“Listen, I’m sure it’ll be okay,” Maria said, though her voice was not as confident as her words. “I’ll talk to him. He’s a pretty good guy. I mean, a geek to the core, obviously, but I really don’t think we have anything to worry about. I think I can convince him that he didn’t see anything, even if he did.”

Isabel was shaking her head frantically, dragging a hand through her long blonde hair. “It won’t work. It won’t. He already knows there’s something about me…”

Max looked at her carefully. “Like what? Has he seen you…”

She glared at him. Proof that not only had he dismissed her when she’d mentioned her worries about Alex before, but that he hadn’t even been listening. “No, Max. I don’t go around blatantly using my powers in public.”

“I was saving a girl’s life!”

She shook her head, grabbing her hair up into a ponytail and letting it loose again in a quick motion. “Whatever. It’s done now. And now we’ve got two people who’re going to be asking questions about it. So what do we tell them?”

Maria spoke up, having regained most of her courage after making her admission. “Like I said, I’ll talk to Alex tomorrow after school. I’ll find out what he thinks happened, and then I’ll… clarify things for him. I’ll say she fell and spilled ketchup and that was it. He’ll go for it.”

“I hope so,” was all Isabel would say. She turned to look at her brother. “Now, what are you going to tell little Miss Science?”

Max took a deep breath and straightened, as if bracing himself for battle. “The truth.”

Isabel shot out of her seat once again, advancing on him like an avenging angel. “The truth? Max, you can’t. I forbid you.”

Max shrugged slowly, though, shaking his head and looking straight into his sister’s eyes. “I have to, Iz. She’s too smart to believe anything else. She’ll find out eventually.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do. She won’t let it go. She’s not like that. It’s safer to just tell her than to have her go digging around investigating us. She’ll raise suspicion. We can’t afford that.”

“We can’t afford to trust her, either.”

“Yes, we can. Isabel, I know we can.”

"You just want to think that because of your little crush on her Max, but this is our lives we're talking about here.”

"Don't you think I know that?” he demanded. “But she’ll find out one way or another. Better having her on our side and helping us hide what happened than having her ask questions and put the spotlight on us. I'm telling her, Iz. That's final.”

“Max, this isn’t a decision you can make by yourself.”

Max sighed. “It’s the only decision that can be made, Isabel. I’m telling Liz the truth, and we’ll deal with her reaction when we get there.”

Isabel wasn’t going to win this fight, she knew. Max had taken on his I-have-spoken voice and there was no arguing with him when he was like that. She glanced at Maria for back-up, but the other girl seemed too shocked to process rational thought. Isabel shook her head, feeling tears begin to prick at her eyes. But she wouldn’t cry in front of her brother. Not like this. “Fine. Tell your perfect Liz Parker our secret. But she better be worth it, Max, or don’t come running to me.”

She fled the room at that and didn’t stop until she was on her own bed with her door closed, and then the tears came.

She had so many emotions swirling through her that she could barely decipher what was what. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the thought that their solemn vow of not using their powers in public had been broken, and their secret was in danger of being discovered. Shock, anger, fear of exposure, were all coursing through her, filling her blood, tying her stomach in knots.

And last but not least was the betrayal from her brother. It was unintentional, but it was still there. He had broken their pact, and he was disregarding her opinion as if she didn’t matter to him. She knew it wasn’t true, but it still hurt.

And for some reason the possibility that Alex Whitman knew all about this made everything that much worse. Because she knew somehow that he would be the one to expose her.

*************

“What do you mean you think Max Evans healed her?”

Alex rubbed his face wearily, turning away from his computer to look his sister in the eye. “Tess, I’ve said this like a thousand times. I don’t know what I mean. I was sitting at the counter like I usually do when I’m alone, you know? And a gun went off and Liz Parker fell to the ground. Max ran up to her and by the time I leaned over to see what was going on, she seemed okay somehow.” He sighed. “I mean, it could have been ketchup. It really could have been that she just broke a bottle of ketchup and it got all over her uniform, but… Tess, that’s really not what it looked like.”

Tess couldn’t even begin to decide what she felt about that, so she just shrugged. “Okay, so… so what does this mean?”

Alex turned his attention back to his monitor, fingers flying over his Qwerty board almost faster than Tess could process thought. “By itself it doesn’t mean much of anything…” he trailed off, his movements slowing only slightly as he spoke.

Tess knew that tone of voice. The healing was only half of it. “Alex, what?”

He sighed. “I’ve got a theory… I’m kind of acting on a hunch here, but under the circumstances it’s not completely unfounded.”

Tess leaned over then, examining the computer screen. “Alex, what are you looking for?”

“Almost got it,” he murmured, hardly having heard her.

“Alex, that’s a government website. What are you doing on a government website?” she asked, but as she caught sight of some of the headers, she pulled back, staring at her brother. “Adoption records?”

Alex paused his movements, spinning his chair to face her again. “Now don’t panic, and don’t get your hopes up.”

Tess frowned. That was an odd combination. What could possibly make her want to do both? “Alex, what is going on?”

Alex looked as if he were uncertain that he should tell her anything, but he finally took a deep breath. “Okay, you know how when Mom was teaching us how to drive she was always saying that she’s never gotten in a car accident in her life?”

Tess nodded, unsure of the connection.

“Well, she lied. She got into a fender-bender with Tish Okabe’s dad. She probably thought I wouldn’t remember it, because I was like four, but that’s not even the point. The point is, when she did, she went over to the Evans’ house for some legal advice, nothing major, but anyhow…”

Tess rolled her eyes, wishing Alex would just get on with it. She hated when he got like this, slowing things down so she could be ready for the blows. She wished he would just make his point already.

“See, the other thing she forgets is that she took me with her to the Evans’ that day.”

He stopped then, giving her a “see what I mean?” look. Only problem was, she didn’t. She waved her hand in a rolling motion. “And?”

Alex leaned back in his chair, suddenly looking satisfied with himself. “And when I was four years old, there was no Max and Isabel Evans.”

Tess blinked, and she glanced back at his computer again. “So, you think they were adopted?” Then before he could even nod, she shrugged. “Okay, so what? A lot of kids are adopted…”

“Well, that’s where it gets interesting.” He turned back to his computer and pulled up a different window. “The farthest I can get is to find out that one pair of children were adopted in 1989 in Roswell, New Mexico.”

“1989?”

Alex nodded. “Three months before we found you.”

Tess sat back, letting the information sink in. “Still, Alex… this doesn’t mean anything…”

Alex shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe it does. You see, the weird thing is, these files were sealed by the legal advisor, which must’ve been Phillip or Diane Evans themselves, since they’re both lawyers.”

Tess shook her head, not liking where this was going. “Alex, so what? I mean, so they wanted to keep it private, big deal. It doesn’t mean anything,” she said again, hoping that he would just stop. He wasn’t going to, though, and she knew it.

“Tessa, what I‘m trying to say is that I don’t think this thing in the Crashdown just means that Max Evans just has some freakish healing powers,” he said, glancing at her as if gauging her reaction. “I think he’s the same as you. Max and Isabel both.” He took a deep breath. “Tess, I think they might be your family.”

[cardinalgirl]

Part 4

September 20, 1999

When they’d gotten to the school that morning, Isabel hadn’t been able to get out of the Jeep fast enough.

She’d somehow gotten past being shocked and was now simply royally pissed at her brother which Max was pretty sure would last a couple weeks, at least. He knew his sister was really only scared, that she’d get over it somehow. Once she realized that Liz was worthy of their trust—which he knew instinctively that she was—then Isabel would be able to forgive him.

Maria, on the other hand, was a different situation.

Maria had been in on his and Isabel’s secret since they were little kids, when she’d seen him heal a cat that had been hit by a car, but somehow not killed. Maria had been crying because of the poor cat, and so Max healed it for her. It was the first time he had ever even used his powers, and Maria had been the one to tell him and Isabel that that just wasn’t normal. After she’d stopped screaming, that is.

He chuckled at the memory, and was immediately whacked on the arm. “And what exactly do you have to laugh about, mister?” Maria demanded from the backseat of the jeep.

“I was just thinking about when you found out… that old cat…”

Maria hit him again. “Shut up. So what, it’s not enough that you jeopardized your entire existence and that of your sister, but now you’re just going to talk about your… abilities anywhere and anytime, too? What’s happened to you, Max?”

Max looked back at his friend, the only person he and Isabel had ever been able to trust with their secret. “Maria, we went through this a hundred times yesterday. I couldn’t just let her die.”

“Yeah? And what if somebody finds out about it? What if the government or somebody comes in and scoops up you and Iz to examine you and dissect you and…” Maria had to stop, because all of a sudden her blue eyes were bright with tears. Max knew that she was terrified for the two of them, and he was incredibly grateful for that, but that didn’t change what he thought. Maria took a deep breath and started again. “You think she’s gonna save your life then, Max? You think perfect little Liz Parker is going to rush in and protect you? You barely know her, Max.”

“I know her better than you think, Maria,” he said, referring not only to the fact that he’d had more classes with her, but to the connection he’d made to her the day before. There were a hundred things he knew about Liz Parker now. None of them were relevant enough to even mention, but he knew Liz Parker now. He’d seen into her soul.

Those images of Michael had been enough for him to trust her. He didn’t understand why she was so protective of the guy—except that he was pretty much seen as a lost cause at school—but anybody who felt that strongly about another person would be worthy of their trust. He knew it. He just didn’t know how to prove it to Maria and Isabel.

“You‘ve changed everything, Max,” Maria said sadly, and Max turned to look at his friend.

Seeing tears rolling down her cheeks, Max’s heart broke a little. Maria DeLuca didn’t usually let people see her cry. Max quickly got out of the jeep and jumped into the back seat with Maria, wrapping an arm around her. “Hey… I didn’t change us, okay?” She was furiously wiping away at her tears. “I didn’t change the fact that you’re the best friend I’ve got, next to Isabel.”

She shook her head. “You don’t know that, Max. I know you. You’ve been wanting to open up to Liz Parker for years. This is your big chance and you’re taking it. I get it.”

Max sighed. “Maria…”

But she pulled away from him and got out of the jeep. “Forget it, Max. Just… never mind. Good luck telling her.”

Max watched as Maria practically ran into the school, confused. Sure, telling Liz would change some things, but why would it change his relationship with her? He didn’t understand that. Yeah, the two of them and Isabel had been a close unit for a long time… but bringing one more person into it couldn’t be that different.

She should be happy for him, really. Like she’d said, he was getting his chance at the girl of his dreams. Not even a chance to actually be with her… he didn’t care about that. Well, of course he cared, but it was never going to happen, so that was besides the point. But for once she was going to understand him. He could feel it.

He pushed away his worry for Maria, he would deal with that later. But for now… for now he had to concentrate on Liz.

*************

Liz had been floating through her day, going through the motions, just trying to get from one moment to the next. She had to find Michael.

When Max Evans had run away from her at the Crashdown the other day, she’d wanted to ask herself what he’d done to her, but she didn’t even need to. She knew exactly what he’d done to her. Because Michael had done the same thing to her three years ago. Well, not the same thing, she amended. He’d only healed a small cut on her face, it hadn’t been life-threatening.

In fact, it had been her first thought when she’d been hit by the bullet. Maybe if Michael were here he could “fix” me again… And then Max Evans had been leaning over her, asking her to open her eyes…

And the next thing she knew she was fine.

There had been pain, and darkness… and then Max Evans. And then he’d made up a story about ketchup and vanished from the diner, asking her not to say anything to anyone.

She’d repeated the ketchup story to her father, to the sheriff, to anyone who would listen.

Finally third period rolled around, and she prayed Michael hadn’t chosen the day to play hookie. She had tried calling him more than thirty times the day before, but she’d gotten tired of being yelled at by Hank, and she’d never gotten through to her friend. She stumbled into her third period English class and raked the room looking for Michael, relief washing over her when she found him in his usual seat.

He sat up straighter when she walked in, and she knew he was instantly worried about her. She must look a mess… Not taking her eyes off of him she sat down next to him. “Michael… I’ve been trying to call you… Did you hear about what happened at the Crashdown yesterday?”

He frowned. “I heard there was some kind of scene with an angry customer…”

She shook her head, leaning into him, and she could smell the sharpness of his cologne. “Michael, it was much more than that… You can’t tell anyone about it, and I promise I’ll explain later, but…” she leaned in closer so that she was literally whispering in his ear. “Michael… I was shot yesterday.”

Michael turned to stare at her so quickly she had to pull back so that he wouldn’t hit her accidentally. “You were what?”

She immediately covered his mouth with her hand. “Not so loud. I’ll tell you after class, okay?”

He was staring at her incredulously. “Liz…”

But she shook her head as the bell rang and class started.

*************

Class had barely ended when Michael had grabbed Liz by the arm and escorted her into the Eraser Room, West Roswell High’s one place of undisputed privacy. There were a hundred times when he’d thought of taking Liz into the Eraser Room… but he’d never have believed the circumstances behind it now.

As soon as the door was locked behind them he rounded on her. “What do you mean you got shot?”

Liz sighed. “I mean, a gun went off yesterday in the Crashdown and I got hit.”

He looked at her like she was crazy. “You’re fine, Liz. You’re not in the hospital, you’re not even bandaged or anything, so what the hell are you talking about?”

She touched his arm, with a pleading look in her eyes. “Michael, just listen to me. I was shot yesterday. There was a bullet two inches below my ribs and I should have died.”

Michael started to worry at that. About her being or her sanity he wasn’t sure, though. “Well… I mean… are you hurt?”

She shook her head. “No. That’s just the thing.”

Michael sighed, almost wanting to shake her to get her to explain herself. “So what are you talking about?” he demanded, trying not to roll his eyes.

“Michael, do you remember the day I found out about you? When you fixed the cut on my cheek?”

He nodded slowly, and suddenly Michael felt numb. They barely spoke about it, the things that made him different… What did that have to do with anything?

She took a step closer to him. “Somebody else fixed me this time.”

Michael frowned at that, coming back down to earth. “What? What are you talking about?”

Liz was wiping her palms on her jeans as if they were sweating or something. “It was so weird, Michael… I was lying there bleeding and I almost blacked out… I really thought I was dying… and then suddenly Max Evans was there… and he told me I had to open my eyes and after that… I don’t know… the pain stopped, and then I was fine again, and then later I found this silver handprint on my stomach.”

“Whoa, whoa, wait. Silver handprint?”

Liz nodded. “Where he healed me… Michael look…” Liz lifted her shirt, and there, on her smooth skin was indeed an iridescent handprint. “That’s where he healed me.”

Michael was staring at his friend, wondering if the world had started spinning faster, or if it was just his head… he felt dizzy. “Liz, what the hell are you saying?”

She dropped her shirt and pushed her hair behind her ears frantically. Michael had never seen her this nervous, not even when he’d first told her the truth about himself. “I don’t know, Michael… but I think… I think Max Evans…” she shook her head, as if in amazement of what she was about to say. “Michael, I think he’s one of you.”

[cardinalgirl]

AN: Hello Okay, so this is what my writing professor calls "intertextualizing," which basically is a big long word for saying that I'm using some dialogue from the Pilot. lol Anyhow, you'll know what belongs to me and what doesn't


Part 5

Max’s heart dropped a little when he saw Liz coming out of the Eraser Room with Michael Guerin, both looking a little flustered. He thought back to something Maria had said once, about the Eraser Room “stealing people’s innocence…” Was it possible that after the ordeal yesterday, Liz had found her outlet in… Michael?

But Max ignored the thought and walked up to her. “I need to speak with you…” he glanced at Michael, then back at Liz. “Alone.”

Michael looked like he was about to protest, but Liz beat him to speaking. “Yeah. That’d be great.” She looked at Michael carefully. “Michael, you should get to class.” Something passed between the friends that Max didn’t exactly understand, but there wasn’t time to dwell on it now. He was grateful when Michael finally nodded and said goodbye to Liz, leaving Max with nothing more than a glare. He didn’t need to get into an argument with Michael Guerin right now.

For a moment Max considered leading Liz back into the Eraser Room, but he decided against it and gestured for her to follow him into the band room instead. There was no class there fourth period, and it was usually empty, so he was surprised when they walked in to find a bored-looking Kyle Valenti under the skylight, idly hitting at the drums…

He looked up at the pair who had just walked in the room, vaguely surprised, and then made his way over to them.

“Hey, Liz. I heard about the shake-up at the Crashdown yesterday. Some scary stuff, you okay?”

Max stood by, dumbly. He really had no idea what people had thought about what had happened. He didn’t even know what Liz had thought about what had happened, and he was surprised when she covered it so easily.

“Definitely scary, yeah, but nothing really happened, you know. It was just loud and then it was over.”

Kyle nodded, musing. “It’s amazing nobody got hurt… I mean a gun shooting off in a random direction in a restaurant full of people…”

She shook her head. “It really wasn’t all that busy,” she said quickly, then she smiled, “Hey, Kyle, Max and I were really going to try to study here… I mean, we’ve got this huge quiz in Bio next period and we just really needed the room, so you know, if you don’t mind…”

“Oh, right. Biology. Okay… um, yeah, I’ll see you around, then. But you’re sure you’re okay, Liz.”

“I’m okay.”

They watched as Kyle left the room, and silence struck them for a moment. Max spoke first. “Didn’t you… um, didn’t you date him once?”

Liz blushed. “What, Kyle Valenti?” she smiled. “Yeah, once for about a month in the seventh grade, but don’t hold it against me.”

Max smiled, letting the momentary normalcy wash over him, but it only lasted a moment, and his smile faded. “Liz, I know you must have some questions. About yesterday.”

Suddenly Liz looked incredibly nervous. She pushed her hair behind her ears quickly, and started pacing around, looking anywhere but at him. “Well, yeah. I mean, something like that couldn’t… couldn’t happen to someone without that person having questions about… about what exactly happened.”

Max swallowed. “Yeah, I know…”

“I mean this is like a huge… life-altering thing, Max… I mean…” she slowed her babbling and looked at him. “Okay, Max…”

He was surprised when she reached out and touched his arm to get his attention, but he soon forgot all about his arm when she appeared to be taking off her shirt. Instead, she only lifted a portion, but he stared nonetheless. There on her skin was a shining silver handprint. His handprint.

“I need to know what this is, Max.” He watched as she swallowed, then picked up his hand and placed it over the handprint. She was staring at his hand, too, and she slowly lifted her gaze to his and dropped his hand. “So help me out here, Max. I mean… what are you?”

They were still standing incredibly close to each other. They’d never stood this close to each other before, not face to face, and Max’s hand was tingling… her skin was so soft… He hadn’t had time to notice its softness the other day, but now…

He took a step away from her to clear his head, and when that wasn’t enough he moved so that there was a few music stands between them. There. He could talk to her from there. “Well… I’m not from around here,” he said, lamely. He’d been alternately looking forward to and fearing this conversation for years, and now that it was happening he couldn’t bring himself to say anything outright.

Liz gave a clipped nod, and she was looking at him with skeptical eyes. “Where’re you from?”

Feeling like a five-year-old, Max held his index finger up. He had a feeling Liz knew where he was going with this but didn’t want to admit it. “Up north?” she asked carefully. He raised his finger higher.”

She took a deep breath, but didn’t look confused at that, as he’d expected her to be. She must have figured it out on her own already. She amazed him.

She was staring at him. “Isabel… your sister. She’s also…?”

He swallowed. There was no turning back now, though. “Yes.”

“So… you’re telling me there’s actually aliens in Roswell.” Her voice was flat, as if she was trying to make it sound like something, but he didn’t know what.

“Well, we prefer the term not-of-this-earth.” He wanted to hit himself as soon as he said it, but he was surprised when she laughed. It was a stunned rattle of a laugh, but a laugh nonetheless.

“Sorry… not a good time to joke. I just… Liz, I need you to know that this doesn’t change who I am. I’m still Max Evans, your lab partner… I’m still me.”

“So, um… who knows about this?”

“Only Maria. She found out by accident when we were kids.”

“Your parents…?”

“We don’t tell anyone.”

Liz nodded slowly. “So when you healed me, you risked all of this getting out…” She shook her head. “Why?”

He shrugged, but looked into her eyes and gave the only answer he could. “It was you.”

He waited for a moment. “Listen, I could answer all your questions, Liz, but it’d probably be easier if I just showed you. Showed you who I am… what I am.”

Liz raised an eyebrow, and for the first time since they’d started the conversation, she looked truly shocked. “How… how can you do that?”

He swallowed. “When I heal someone I have to connect to them… I get this rush of images and feelings from them… I got them from you when I healed you…” his gaze drifted to the floor. “I saw a dress with cupcakes on it that you hated… know how you love the smell of sulfer… um, there was a lot of Michael, too…”

At her terrified expression he wanted to hit himself. Nice going, Evans, let her think you’re some kind of mental stalker. He rushed on to explain himself.

“I was thinking maybe I could get the connection to go the other way… you know, show you things from my life… let you see what I’m really made of… Would that… would that be okay? I mean, if you don’t want to… that’s fine,” he mumbled, again feeling like a child, but she nodded, slowly.

He stepped forward, timidly. “I’d have to touch you…” he said, as he cupped her face gently. “Just let your mind blank out…”

Liz was staring into Max Evans’ dark eyes, and he was talking about letting her mind blank out? For half a second she wondered if he was going to kiss her, but then she was hit by a suffusion of images—no, it was more than that. It was sights, sounds, feelings…

She saw a very young Max and Isabel Evans wandering the highway naked, headlights coming up behind them… Max healing a cat in front of a screaming Maria…. And then suddenly all of the images were of her. Her in elementary school, her in middle school, her in their Biology class the week before, working with him on an experiment.

She swallowed dryly as the connection broke, and she was again staring at Max Evan’s anxious eyes. Eyes that she now knew saw her as special, as beautiful.

“Did that… did it work?” he asked, nervously.

She nodded, slowly, then turned herself away from him. She heard the bell ringing in the hall. “Max… I need to go… I need some time…”

He stepped back, looking downcast. “Yeah, of course… But Liz… you know you can’t tell anyone about this. Not your parents, not Michael.”

She nodded, meeting his heavy look. “Yeah. I know, Max. Um… I’ve really got to go now.”

*************

Liz made it out into the hallway and leaned against the lockers for a moment, just breathing. She'd started out just wanting to gather some information for Michael, figure out Max Evans before he had them figured out. But she'd never expected that connection, and everything it had shown her was spinning around in her head, making her dizzy. Max Evans was an alien. Like Michael. Max Evans had shown her his soul. Max Evans thought she was beautiful. Max Evans, with the perfect physique and the most gorgeous eyes on campus... was practically in love with her…

Liz barely had time to catch her breath before Alex Whitman was bearing down on her.

She smiled at him slightly and headed towards him. Finally somebody safe, something familiar. Alex had always been a pretty nice guy. And normal. She needed normal right now.

But the smile slid off her face as Alex came closer to her, and she realized that his expression was nowhere near happy. Suddenly he was towering over her—she’d always known he was tall, but he was tall. He pulled her to the side, then, and there was nothing normal or familiar about the way he spoke to her, like the principal cornering a delinquent.

“I need to know what you know about Max Evans.”

[cardinalgirl]

Part 6

“I need to know what you know about Max Evans.”

Liz felt like she was going to drop. Why couldn’t Alex have found her an hour ago? When she didn’t know anything about Max Evans and she could have honestly told him so? This was important, though. She needed to focus. She smiled at him, sure to look at him like he was a little strange. “Max? Um, he’s just my Bio partner… What is this about, Alex?”

He sighed. “Listen, I was at the Crashdown yesterday, Liz. I was sitting at the counter when the gun went off and I know Max Evans did something to you.”

“Alex, don’t be ridiculous. There was a bottle of ketchup that broke and got all over my uniform.”

He didn’t look convinced, though. “Liz, you fell on your back. Explain to me some way that it’s physically possible that you broke that bottle and got it all over the front of your uniform?”

Liz froze. He was so right. That would be incredibly difficult. “Alex, what is this, an investigation?” she laughed, a bit shakily. “I mean, nobody got hurt yesterday, isn’t that the important thing?”

Alex didn’t answer her, instead he just looked at her, leveling her with his stare. Liz would not be stared into submission, though, and she met his gaze in what she hoped looked like an easy manner. It was nowhere near easy in reality.

Finally Alex spoke again. “Liz, I trust you. I mean, you’ve never done anything that makes your word even questionable.” The relief spreading through Liz almost made her weak… as soon as this was over she was going to find a dark classroom and just sit until her lunch period was over. And then he continued. “But you have no idea how important this is. I know you got shot yesterday, Liz. I know that Max did something to you and you’re okay now. But I need you to fill in the blanks for me.”

Liz started shaking her head, and the movement continued as she spoke, she couldn’t seem to make it stop. “Alex, this is nothing like what you’re thinking…” Finally she stopped her wagging head. “I mean… Max helped me up, that’s all. What you’re thinking… Alex, what you’re thinking is just… crazy.” She wondered if he noticed how breathy her voice sounded. It was always like that when she got nervous… it was annoying.

The look he was giving her said that he noticed.

“Listen, Liz, I know you’re probably protecting him. Believe me, I can understand that.” His look softened, became more of a plea than a demand. “But there may be other circumstances that you don’t know about… These other circumstances might be really important. They might make you reconsider your story.”

Liz frowned. “Alex, what are you talking about? What do you know about Max Evans?” She didn’t let him respond, though, maybe because she just really wanted this day to be over. “Because I really don’t think you know all that much. Now if you don’t mind, I’ve got a quiz next period that I have to study for. Goodbye, Alex.”

Liz strode off before Alex could say another word, and then she ran to her Biology class. Michael would know where to find her if he wanted to, and for the moment she really, really needed to be alone.

*************

When Alex made it to his normal table for lunch, Kyle and Tess were already there. They’d been making plans for the weekend, but their conversation cut off when they saw Alex’s expression.

“I’m guessing it didn’t go well,” Kyle said.

Alex shot him a “Gee, you think?” expression, and sat down without responding.

“Okay, so I don’t get it. If you’re so sure that Max and Isabel are… like Tess… then why don’t you just go up to one of them? I mean, personally I’d recommend Max over the Ice Bucket, but that’s just my opinion.”

Alex rolled his eyes at the “Ice Bucket” comment, and sighed. “Because I want to be positive. I don’t want to expose Tess before we know what we’re dealing with.”

Tess leaned over the table and smacked Alex upside the head. “Would you stop talking about me like I’m not even here?” she huffed.

Kyle grinned watching her. “That’s right, my woman’ll teach you a lesson!”

Kyle was surprised, to say the least, when Tess then turned and smacked him also. He turned innocent eyes on her. “What?”

“I’m not just your woman, Kyle, you sound like a caveman. And hello, you’re talking to my brother.”

Alex laughed watching them argue, but then he stopped. “Hey… that actually gives me an idea.” They turned to look at him, expectantly. “I think you two should break up.”

Tess sighed dramatically. “Alex, we’ve been over this. Kyle and I aren’t going to break up anytime soon, and even if we were you wouldn’t trust any other guy to touch me with a ten-foot pole, anyhow, so I think I’ll stick with what I’ve got, thank you.”

He was shaking his head, though, barely listening to her. “No, I’m serious. I tried the straight approach with Liz, but it didn’t work, but we need to figure out what’s up with the Evanses, so we need Liz.” He pointed at Kyle. “And you are going to be our in.”

Kyle stared at him blankly. “I am so not following you.”

Tess understood him completely, though, and she glared at her brother. “Alexander Charles Whitman, you are not messing with my boyfriend’s life like that. Or mine.”

“Tess, it would just be for a little while and it’s for your own good.”

“What about Liz’s own good, did you think of that?”

“It’s not like she’ll fall for him, Tess, I mean, come on…” he gestured at Kyle, who still had a clueless look on his face.

“What is that supposed to mean?” she demanded.

He rolled his eyes. “Nothing… look, it won’t be real. It won’t be anything. You know that.”

“I don’t know that and neither do you!”

Kyle held his hands up. “Hey, hey, will somebody clue in the Valenti?” he almost shouted, putting both Alex and Tess a little off balance.

Still frowning at her brother, Tess answered him. “He wants you to ask Liz out.”

Kyle’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Um… excuse me… are you asking me to cheat on your sister with Liz Parker?”

“Don’t act like it’d be a chore, Kyle, she’s hot.”

“You ask her out, then.”

“Well I would, but considering I just interrogated her, that might look a little suspicious.”

“But I’m dating your sister,” Kyle said slowly, to get it through Alex’s obviously muddled brain. “In any other set of circumstances you’d have me hanging from the closest tree for doing something like that.”

“This isn’t any other set of circumstances. We need information here.”

“Look, no, we don’t,” Tess spoke up. “Alex, nobody suspects anything about me right now, but if you two start poking around like this they might.”

Alex sighed. “And what if they are the same as you? What if you’re supposed to be with them, Tess… I dunno… what if they are your family?”

Suddenly there were tears in Tess’ eyes. “Would you stop saying it like that? Look I’ve got a family, okay.” That was the thing that had been eating at her since Alex had shown her those papers. She had Alex and her parents and that was all she’d ever need. She didn’t want another “family” to be pushed on her, even if it was by her brother.

“Tessa, that wasn’t what I meant, and you know it,” Alex was saying. Kyle’s arm had come around her comfortingly, and for a moment she was tempted to just sit there with him and ignore her brother, or glare at him until he gave them a moment alone.

Instead she pulled away from him and got up, walking away from the table. She could hear Alex calling after her. “Tess? Tess, where are you going?”

She halted, but only half-turned when she answered. “I’m going to find Isabel Evans,” she said, walking away before either of them could argue. This was her life, after all. She was going to do it her way.

[cardinalgirl]

Part 7

The lights were off in the Biology classroom, but that didn’t matter to Michael. He’d always been able to see as well in the dark as in the light, maybe even better. And so it wasn’t hard to see Liz sitting in the back corner with her head down on her arms.

For a moment he thought she was crying, and he wanted to kill Max Evans… but she wasn’t, and so Michael relented. She looked up when he came in, but didn’t say anything. She looked exhausted. He sat down heavily beside her, almost torn between demanding to know every word that Max had said and pretending that none of it had happened at all.

Before he was able to decide between the two, though, Liz turned to him. “Michael? Did you ever get flashes from me? Like images… feelings…?” Michael’s quick intake of breath answered her question, though, and she turned to face him, searching his face. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t know how to,” he mumbled.

She shook her head, disbelieving. “Michael, you’re my best friend. And that… that is an amazing thing… I just… I just don’t know how you could keep that from me.” Her last words were quiet. Hurt.

“Liz…” he started, but he didn’t even know what to say. The flashes, the connections… it was just one more thing that made him different. One more thing that put him in danger. One more thing that meant that he could never really be with her.

“Is there anything else?” she said softly, not looking at him.

He swallowed. She sounded like she’d been betrayed or something. “What do you mean?” he asked gruffly.

She sighed, turning towards him. “Is there anything else you’ve been hiding from me? Michael, how am I supposed to protect you if I don’t even know what I’m protecting?” She met his eyes, sadly. “I thought… Michael, I thought you trusted me.”

“Liz, of course I trust you,” he said, exasperated. “I was just… I was worried that it might weird you out.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I mean, it’s not like you need one more reason to think I’m some kind of freak.”

His words straightened her spine, and she glared at him. “Michael, have I ever given you any indication that I thought you were some kind of freak? Ever?”

He sighed. “No, okay? You haven’t. That doesn’t mean I’m not one, though.”

Liz turned once again to face her friend. “Michael… I know things aren’t always easy for you. But if you can’t trust me, Michael, who can you trust?”

“I trust you, Liz, okay? It’s not about that.”

“Then what is it about? Michael, we need to be straight with each other right now. The things Max showed me…” she shook her head, still trying to take it all in. “Michael, you have to talk to him.”

Michael jerked back, staring at her. “What? Why?”

“Michael, you’ve got to. He… he showed me things… Michael, you’ve got to believe me, he’s just like you. He was even found wandering the highway the same way you were. And Isabel, too. Michael, don’t you understand what this means?”

He was staring at her, trying to take in what he was telling her. “Did you… did you tell him about me?” he asked gruffly. It was all he could manage at the moment. The idea that there were others like him… that he wasn’t just some random freak… it was almost too much. Too good to believe.

“No, Michael, of course not. I would never do that without talking to you first. But I can’t keep lying to Max, either.”

Michael straightened at that. “So all of a sudden this is all about him?” he asked, unable to hide his hurt, or the impatience that went with it.

Liz was shaking her head. “Michael, this is not about him. It’s about you. And me. I mean… I’ve spent the last three years wondering how it’s possible that what happened to you happened… how it’s possible that you could have ended up like that, how it was possible that there was no one else like you. And it never made any sense, Michael. But now… now it does. Because you’re not the only one anymore.”

“Liz, I don’t trust him. I can’t trust him. I can’t trust anyone but you. This… this could all be some kind of trick, you know.”

Liz was shaking her head. “I know what I saw, Michael. This isn’t a trick.” She took a deep breath, and when she continued her voice was soft with awe. “He connected to me, he… opened his soul to me, Michael… there’s no way this could be a trick.”

Michael quirked an eyebrow at her, frowning. “He connected to you? You mean… you got flashes from him?”

Liz nodded. “If you know what that’s like, Michael, you know that he couldn’t have been tricking me. We can trust him. I need to trust him, Michael. He saved my life.”

But Michael shook his head. “Liz, I know you. There’s something more than that. What’s going on?”

Liz swallowed. “This is gonna sound crazy.”

Michael laughed. “Liz, who are you talking to?”

She smiled. “Yeah… I mean, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore, huh? But Michael, this… this is different. I… I think he’s in love with me.”

Michael couldn’t hide his surprise. “What? You mean Evans?” Liz nodded, and the look on her face was likewise unmistakable—she was amazed. And she was blushing. And smiling. He stared at her. “You’re serious.”

She nodded. “I don’t know if I can even describe what it was like, Michael…” she giggled nervously. “I mean… what are the chances, right? There’s three aliens in Roswell and one of them’s my best friend and another one’s in love with me…” She rolled her eyes, giggling again. Most days that giggle would force him to smile, whether he wanted to or not, but he couldn’t help but feel the twinge of irony. What were the chances, indeed?

She turned towards him as her laughter died away, all business now. “Michael… they don’t know anything more than you do… but together, you might have a chance. To find out about why you’re here, where you come from… you can’t let this opportunity slip away from you.”

Michael looked away from her mutinously, but said nothing. There was nothing to say, because she was right, of course. She was always right. Sooner or later he was going to have to deal with this.

Because the truth was, if Max Evans hadn’t been at the Crashdown the day before, he would have lost Liz forever. Whether he liked it or not, Michael was indebted to him.

From that look on Liz’s face earlier, he had a feeling it was going to be not.

*************

“Isabel. We need to talk.”

Isabel Evans glanced over at the petite blonde who was presently staring her down.

One of the girls sitting across from her practically cooed at the new arrival. “Aw, look, little Tess Whitman wants to come and play with the big girls at lunchtime.” The whole table laughed at the comment, except for Isabel, who hadn’t even quirked a smile. Instead she simply sat up straight, turning towards the smaller girl and running her eyes over her disdainfully.

Tess was not to be intimidated, though, and Isabel’s intense scrutiny was simply met with an icy blue stare. Isabel had to admit, she was almost impressed.

Once the laughing stopped, another girl at the table—none other than Stacey Scheinen herself—sniffed delicately. “Isabel, what’s this about? Did you blow off her brother or something?”

Isabel sent Stacey a slight smirk, and glanced around the table filled with West Roswell High’s elite. “If you’ll excuse me. I’m sure this won’t take long.”

Her hand almost shook as she picked up the small handbag that was laying on the table in front of her, but years of practice meant that Isabel showed virtually no sign of the nervous tickle inside her—she had not planned on having to deal with the Whitmans herself, after all. If Tess brought her over to be cornered by both herself and Alex, she had no idea what she would do, but she would cross that bridge when she came to it. Luckily, however, Tess led her a good ways away from the lunch tables into an open area, and turned to Isabel, coming to a stop.

“So what is this about?” Isabel asked, arching an eyebrow and feigning boredom perfectly. “I didn’t blow off your brother… did I?” she asked carefully, her tone implying that he wouldn’t have been important enough to remember, even if she had. As soon as she’d spoken, though, she wished that she’d kept her mouth shut, because mentioning Tess’ brother had brought an image of those piercing gray-blue eyes into her mind, making Isabel shiver.

“Actually this has more to do with your brother,” Tess was saying, as Isabel forced herself to focus, giving an involuntary swallow. It was small, but it could have been noticeable. She shook her head slightly, as if to clear her thoughts. Not a full twenty-four hours had gone by since Max had healed Liz Parker in public, and already Isabel was starting to lose her cool. She was starting to slip.

To cover her tracks, Isabel arched an eyebrow at Tess. “You know, if you want Max you’re going to have to get him yourself. I’m just his sister, not his keeper.”

Tess rolled her eyes. “Please. Your brother is sexy, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t go for the brooding/loner type.”

Isabel’s eyes narrowed. She was going to have to play hardball here. She reminded herself of her observation from the day before, that Tess was simply too nice, when it came down to it. Isabel could take her, no problem. “Oh, that’s right,” she said, coldly, glancing over at where Kyle still sat with Alex. “You go for the moron/jock type. How could I forget?”

Tess’ eyes flashed, but she smiled sweetly. “Well, at least I don’t scare away every Y-chromosome in sight.” But her face turned contrite almost immediately as she sighed. “Look, I’m sorry. I really didn’t come here to argue with you.”

Isabel frowned. She hadn’t been expecting that. “Then why did you?”

Tess bit her lip, and for the first time Isabel realized that the other girl was nervous also. Tess glanced over at Alex and Kyle again, as if for strength, before looking back at the taller girl. “Did you ever think it was strange that the only two pair of twins at West Roswell were both a sister and a brother? I mean… you and Max don’t even look alike.”

“And you and Alex do?” Isabel scoffed, wondering at the sudden change of subject. Was Tess trying to get her to say that Max wasn’t her natural brother? Was she trying to trick Isabel into saying that something about Max wasn’t normal? Because she was going to have to try a lot harder than that.

She was surprised when Tess just gave her a knowing smile. “No, Alex and I are more different than a lot of people know.”

Isabel swallowed dryly. She didn’t know what the game was, but she knew that Tess was trying to get her to give something away. Well, little Tessa Whitman didn’t know who she was dealing with.

But before Isabel could say anything, Tess took a step closer to her. “Listen, Isabel… I want to be friends. I think… I think we’re both going to need it.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?” she asked, silently cursing herself for stammering.

Tess glanced around. “We shouldn’t talk here… it’s not safe. Will you meet me in the quarry outside of town? After school, five o’clock.”

Isabel wanted to tell her no. Wanted to tell her she was crazy if she thought that she was going to meet anybody anywhere for no reason out of the blue. But as she looked into Tess’s sparkling blue eyes, something in the back of her mind shifted… It was almost like a memory.

Isabel nodded slowly. “Five o’clock.”

[cardinalgirl]

Part 8

“Maxwell… will you please tell your sister that this is not a good idea?” Maria encouraged, after Max had been sitting contemplating what Isabel had been saying for almost a full minute.

They were sitting at one of the little tables outside the Crashdown Cafe, a spot Isabel had forced upon Max, as she didn’t want to be anywhere near Liz Parker while they ate and discussed her encounter with Tess, and the other girl was currently on her shift inside the restaurant.

Finally Max sighed. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a good idea or not because we’re not going.”

“Max, I told her I would be there, I can’t back out now, it’ll be suspicious.”

“Yeah, and what exactly did you think you were doing telling her you’d go, Isabel?” Max demanded. Both girls jumped slightly, not used to Max on the offensive like that.

Maria raised an amused eyebrow, but Isabel was not in the mood. “What, all of a sudden I have to follow the rules, Max? Because if I remember correctly, it was you who threw them out the window,” she said, heatedly.

Max looked back at his sister unflinchingly. “Nothing has changed, Isabel. The rules are the same as they always have been. And you’re not going off to some secret location to hand all of our secrets over on a plate to somebody you barely even know.”

“Like you did?” she flared.

“So this is what this is about?” Max asked, as if he wasn’t entirely surprised. “You want me to know how mad you are about Liz?”

“Do you honestly think I’m doing this to get back at you?” Isabel demanded. “Did you even listen to anything I said?” Her voice turned to an almost desperate plea then, a plea for him to trust her, to take what she was saying seriously. “Max, there’s something there. Tess knows something about us.”

But Max simply shook his head. “No. Tess’s brother thought he saw something, and now you’ve all but proven it to them that something’s up.”

Tears in her eyes at her brother’s reprimand, Isabel was almost shaking with rage. “Max, don’t you dare treat me like I’m the one who put us both in danger,” she hissed. “I haven’t done or said anything wrong, I’m just trying to cover up your mess. I’m going to the quarry to meet Tess, whether you like it or not.”

“I think you might want to think about that first,” a calm voice behind them said, and all three members of the table jumped when they realized the conflict had been overheard. Max sighed in relief when he saw that it was only Liz, but both girls remained tense.

“Listen, Liz, Max may have told you our secret but that really doesn’t mean that you suddenly have an automatic pass card to give us advice,” Isabel stated, snapping into performance character quickly. It was just more proof that there really was something there with Tess—she never lost control like that.

Liz flinched slightly, but she held her ground. “I just… I just though that you should know that Alex talked to me at school today.” Max’s eyes widened as this new information sunk in, and Liz gave him a small look of apology. “It was right after you talked to me… I would have told you sooner but with my shift starting right after school I didn’t get a chance.”

“Did you… tell him anything?” Max made out, but was immediately sorry when Liz looked slightly offended.

“No! Max… I wouldn’t do that,” she said, shaking her head emphatically.

“I’m sorry…” he started, but she shook her head and surprised him by taking the fourth seat at their table.

“It’s not important. Anyhow, Max, Alex… he was here yesterday… when… anyhow, he was here.”

“Yeah, we know that already, thanks,” Maria cut in, rolling her eyes. “We were there too, remember?”

“Yeah, but he knows Max did something to me.”

“He thinks Max did something. All the more reason for Isabel to not go on some crazy fieldtrip to meet up with his sister,” Maria said.

Liz bit her lip, as if debating. “He said something else, too.”

Max looked up, frowning at the serious note in her voice. A flash of guilt hit him as he realized that now Liz would spend her life watching out for them, fearing for them. She didn’t need that. Maybe it had been a mistake telling her about them.

But if Liz was upset that she’d been involuntarily given a part in the charade-game that was their life, she didn’t let on. In fact, if this was an example, she seemed to have stepped into the role rather naturally… maybe too naturally… but Max didn’t have time to dwell on that, as she was talking again.

“Alex said something about… ‘other circumstances?’ Something about how if you knew about something… then…” Liz trailed off, blushing. “You know, I really don’t know what he was talking about, sorry.”

And Max felt himself smiling at her embarrassment. Maybe there was no cloak-and-dagger stuff about Liz Parker, after all. “It’s okay, Liz.”

Liz shrugged. “I just… it’s important to him, Max. For some reason.” She glanced at Maria and Isabel then, blushing again as she realized that she’d been focusing in on Max. “I just thought I should tell you that. All of you,” she amended quickly. “Anyhow, I’ve got to…” she gestured towards the Crashdown before standing up and going back inside.

“Bye Liz,” Max called after her, watching as she went. Maria rolled her eyes at Isabel, which made the taller girl smile, forgetting the tension at the table if only for a moment.

Max turned back to them, and then it was Maria who was looking through the Crashdown’s front windows at the small brunette waitress. “So, Isabel, have you checked their credentials yet?” she asked casually.

Max frowned at her. “What? Whose?”

Maria rolled her eyes again. “Your cute little waitress and her nerfherder friend,” she said, nodding towards the interior of the diner.

Max turned to his sister. “And just exactly were you planning on ‘checking their credentials?’” he asked sharply.

“Max, one little trip into their subconscious isn’t going to damage them for life.”

Max shook his head. “When you dreamwalked Mom she couldn’t sleep for a week.”

Isabel shrugged defensively. “I was ten. I’ve gotten better at it.”

“Besides, we need some info, Max. You may trust them, and that’s great, but Isabel and I, we need to figure it out for ourselves.” Maria turned to Isabel. “You find out what you can from their dreams. Me, I’m going to explore other avenues.”

Max raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”

Maria pointed to the “Help Wanted” sign in the front window. “I’m going undercover.”

Max laughed at Maria’s serious expression, and then sighed. “I really don’t want you guys spying on Liz. Or Michael.”

“Max, we don’t know anything about them. We can’t just trust that she won’t tell him, and we can’t trust that they aren’t going to crack and tell the authorities.”

Maria nodded in agreement. “Isabel’s right, Max. I mean, come on, first you’ve got Liz Parker, Miss Everything-I-Know-I-Learned-From-My-AP-Bio-Book. And then Michael Guerin… He’s one of those creepy loner types. Ten bucks says he’s a closet conspiracy-theorist.”

Max glanced at her “Question Authority” T-shirt and raised an eyebrow. “Maria, you’re a conspiracy-theorist.”

Maria rolled her eyes in frustration. “Yeah, but when your two best friends are…”-she glanced around at the tables of people surrounding them-“…Czechoslovakians… you kind of have the right to be a little suspicious every now and then.”

Isabel glanced at her watch then. “I’ve got to go. If I don’t show up, Tess’ll get suspicious.”

Max stared his sister in the eye. “Isabel…”

“Max, I’ve got to do this,” Isabel said, pleading in her eyes. She didn’t need permission, but she wanted his acceptance.

He sighed. “Just watch yourself. If anything happens, call me, we’ll get you out of there.”

Isabel smiled her thanks and gave Max a hug before dropping some money on the table for her drink and heading out in her mother’s car.

*************

Isabel maneuvered her way down the dirt road that led into the reservoir. She was almost surprised at the location. She and Max and Maria had come out here once or twice before. It was really one of the only places in Roswell where people could go and not worry about being seen, as the quarry was abandoned, and few people bothered with it.

She parked her mother’s small car close to the end of the dirt road, and as she got out of the car she noticed Tess standing on the edge of one of the little jets of land overlooking the water. Further down, Isabel saw the VW Rabbit that Tess and Alex shared—with Alex and Kyle leaning against it.

Isabel was momentarily struck with panic. She should have brought Max and Maria. No! She would only have been revealing all of them then. Maybe if she turned around now….

But instead she lifted her chin and marched towards where Tess stood, channeling her insecurity into anger instead.

“What are they doing here?” Isabel demanded, as soon as she was in hearing distance. She didn’t wait for an answer, though, merely went on. “This isn’t what I bargained for. I said that I would meet you, not all your little friends.”

She was surprised when Tess looked sorry. “They wouldn’t let me come alone,” the smaller blonde said, a mixture of affection and annoyance in her voice. “I told them that they could only come if they didn’t butt in, though, that’s why they’re waiting by the car.”

Isabel frowned towards the two boys, surveying them for a moment. They were watching intently, but there was no way they could hear the two of them from that distance. Unless she kept shouting, that is.

“They’re just watching out for me, Isabel. Please understand that.”

Isabel felt a pang then, and she realized to her surprise that it was jealousy. Nobody had “watched out” for Isabel in a long time, except her parents, of course, and they didn’t really count. Isabel Evans didn’t need people to watch out for her, after all. That was the whole point of Isabel Evans, she didn’t get involved, she didn’t get attached. So no one got attached to her.

Max loved her, of course, and Maria did too, once you got down to it, but it was hard for either of them to like her sometimes. Unlike her parents, who almost exclusively saw the softer, sweeter Izzy Evans, Max and Maria saw Isabel at school. They knew what she was like, what she was capable of. And they had trouble remembering it was all an act. Seeing is believing, after all.

Finally Isabel turned back to Tess, nodding her acceptance of the guys being there. “Now what is this about?”

Tess bit her lip, suddenly looking very unsure and almost scared now that they’d gotten down to the point.

“Come on, I don’t have all day.”

The uncertainty on Tess’s face was replaced by a determined frown, then, and she held out her right hand, which Isabel hadn’t even noticed was holding something until right then. “It’s about this,” Tess said simply.

Isabel stared at the object in Tess’ hand. “What is that?” she asked, confusion evident in her voice.

“What does it look like?” Tess asked her in turn.

Isabel shrugged, unimpressed. “It’s a rock.” And it was. A yellow quartz to be more precise. It was good-sized for a quartz, and just fit into Tess’ small hand. Isabel studied the stone for a minute, wondering what Tess expected her to see in it. Maybe her feelings earlier had been wrong, after all. Isabel finally raised her eyes to Tess’ face, giving her a blank look.

Tess didn’t look convinced, though. “I think you know exactly what this is,” she said. “I think you and Max both do. That’s why I think I can trust you.”

Isabel frowned. Tess was staring at her so intensely, Isabel was almost sorry for what she had to tell her. “I really don’t know what that is, Tess.”

Tess blinked, her expression going from disbelief to surprise to confusion in a matter of moments. “You don’t?” she asked, a little crestfallen. She shook her head. “But that doesn’t make any sense. You and Max were found at the same time, weren’t you? You were adopted at the same time, that much Alex could find.”

Isabel straightened at that, glaring towards where Alex and Kyle stood. “What are you doing, investigating me?”

Tess didn’t seem to hear, though. She was turned towards her brother, and Isabel got the odd sensation that the two were communicating without words. Before Isabel could get really angry, though, she remembered what Liz had been trying to tell them at the Crashdown, that this had been important to Alex for some reason…

And Tess’ words from earlier that day sifted into her mind, too. “Alex and I are more different than people know.”

Isabel gasped as the pieces fell into place, interlocking to form a picture that was almost too ridiculous an idea to entertain. But what Tess had said… how she and Max had been adopted at the same time, had been found at the same time… Why would any of that matter unless…”

“Alex isn’t really your brother, is he?” Isabel asked, suddenly, surprising Tess who was still gazing intently at the tall young man. She was amazed the words had even come out, her throat was so tight she was having trouble breathing.

Tess jumped at the intrusion to her thoughts, and gave Isabel an evaluative look. Isabel could understand her hesitance. She was making a decision Isabel wasn’t sure she’d ever have the strength to do-she was letting someone in. Finally, Tess smiled sadly. “No. He’s not really my brother. But he’s the only one I’ve got.”

Isabel swallowed, working her mouth for a moment before words would form. She tried to remember what she knew of Alex and Tess’ parents. Chuck Whitman was tall with light hair, maybe blonde, she couldn’t remember, whereas Gloria Whitman was petite with dark, curly hair and bright blue eyes. Either Tess or Alex were passable as a composite of the two, Alex with his father’s frame and mother’s coloring, and Tess the other way around. It was why no one at school had really questioned them as twins.

Isabel decided to take a guess then, praying that she wasn’t betraying herself by what she was going to say. Praying she wasn’t betraying Max.

“So you’re saying that Alex is… like me and Max?”

Tess stared at her, and suddenly Isabel flushed red. This had been a mistake. Max and Maria had been right, she never should have come here.

And then, to Isabel’s surprise—which quickly turned into outrage—Tess laughed. She laughed so long and hard she had to wipe tears from her eyes. When the waves of glee finally left her, she smiled at Isabel so brightly that most of Isabel’s anger faded.

“No, Isabel, I can assure you, Alex Charles Whitman is not an alien.” Isabel straightened noticeably at Tess’ last word, but the smaller girl only smiled. “He’s not. But I am.”

[cardinalgirl]

Part 9

“So, do you think they’ve got like a secret handshake or something?” Kyle asked, from where he stood next to Alex, leaning on the Rabbit.

Alex rolled his eyes. “Shut up, Valenti.”

“No, I’m serious. It’s not exactly an everyday kind of conversation. What exactly was she planning on saying? ‘Hey, my brother saw your brother cheat the laws of physics, are you a martian too?’”

“Kyle!” Alex said, the warning in his voice enough to make his friend stop. The pair of them had been watching the exchange carefully, though they couldn’t hear any of what was said, other than muffles of Isabel’s outbursts.

As if the scene playing out in front of them didn’t make him edgy enough, Kyle had been an overload of nervous energy ever since they’d picked him up from his dad’s house, and it was driving Alex crazy. “Would you stop fidgeting?” Alex demanded, as his friend started on what must have been his fortieth drum roll since they’d gotten out of the car.

“Look, I’m worried, okay?” Kyle snapped, taking his eyes off of Tess long enough to glare at Alex.

Alex rolled his eyes again, but he sighed. “Yeah, dude, I know. I’m worried too. But Tess can take care of herself. And Isabel’s not as bad as she looks”

Kyle groaned. “Don’t get all soft about the Popsicle Lady on me now, okay, Alex? Like hell you’re worried. This was your whole freaking plan from the beginning. The minute you found out Isabel Evans might be involved in this that was all it was about to you.”

“That’s not true,” Alex said, automatically, but even to himself the denial sounded a little too strong, and it took all his strength not to roll his eyes at himself in frustration. Closing his eyes for a second, Alex sighed, leaning back against the Rabbit. “I’ve been a real pain lately, haven’t I?”

“What tipped you off?” Kyle asked sarcastically.

Alex thought over his actions of the last few days, something he’d been avoiding doing, which only proved that he knew what a jerk he’d been being. He scrunched his face up, as if willing the facts away, but it was no use. “I’m sorry,” he said, rubbing his face with his hand. “I just… Isabel Evans, you know? She gets under my skin.”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, she’s been ‘under your skin’ for like eight years, but you don’t even know her. And sending Tess in as bait’s a pretty messed up thing to do.”

“Kyle, this was her idea,” Alex said lamely, but as true as that was, he knew exactly what his friend was going to say next.

“Yeah, but you could have talked her into waiting a little bit longer. Until we could have figured things out for sure.”

Alex shook his head, his eyes once again focused on the two girls before them. “Nah, she wouldn’t have waited. She doesn’t want to be curious about Max and Isabel… but she can’t help it either.”

Kyle shook his head dismissingly, even though they both knew it was true. “So you want to hear what I’m worried about, or what?” he asked, brusquely.

Alex glanced at him. “I thought it was this,” he waved towards the girls. “Is there something else we need to be worried about?” Kyle’s silence worried him, and Alex turned to face him again. “Spit it out, Valenti.”

Kyle was still watching Tess and Isabel, but his eyes glanced over to Alex and back again, nervously. “Look, my dad questioned Liz about the shooting, right?” He sucked in a breath as Alex nodded. He already knew what Liz had said. Kyle swallowed. “I just don’t know if he buys the ketchup story,” he finished in a rush.

Alex froze, sure that he literally felt his heart stop beating for a moment. In desperation, he turned to Kyle. “No. No. Your dad has to believe the ketchup story. If there is one single person that we need to believe that ketchup story, it’s your dad.”

Kyle grimaced. “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

“Why would he not believe Liz Parker?” Alex demanded, being prone to rants when hit by unexpected information. “I mean, she’s a straight-A student. He’s known Liz forever. He’s in a freaking band with her dad!”

Kyle raised an eyebrow. “Okay… if you’ve ever seen ParkerValentine play then you would know that that is not a fact something that’s gonna help us out here.”

Alex crossed his arms uncomfortably. “I thought all that bickering and stuff they do is just part of the act.”

“Yeah, well Jeff nearly gave Dad a black eye last year at their big annual gig at the Crashdown New Year’s celebration.” Kyle rolled his eyes. “They’re like brothers. Who hate each other.”

Alex shrugged, feeling his slight panic easing away. “Okay, so they don’t get along. What possible reason would he have for doubting what Liz said to him during his investigation?”

Kyle cricked his neck uneasily, and his next words had Alex tense all over again. “See, here’s the thing I’m worried about.”

“What thing?” he managed to ask, in a voice that was much calmer than he felt.

Kyle was staring out at Tess again, as if drawing some kind of strength from her, and again he let out his explanation in a rush. “Apparently there was some alien-freak there who saw the whole thing. This guy named Larry Trilling, totally obsessive. X-Files, doomsday, you name it he believes it.” Kyle gave Alex a worried look. “Now my dad obviously didn’t buy what this guy was saying, but nobody’s found a bullet hole either, and that’s getting to him.”

Alex fell back against the car, his eyes settling on Isabel, momentarily distracting him. She turned, and for a moment he thought she was looking at him, but he shook the thought off as Kyle’s words came back to him. He felt as if all the moisture had been sucked out of him, and he licked his lips dryly. He took a deep breath, thinking about how easily traceable Tess' “secret” meeting with Isabel, Max Evans’ brother, might have been. She was virtually just a hop, skip and a jump away from being visibly connected to the Crashdown “incident” now. Roswell had its share of crazy people, but the UFO obsessies were the worst sort.

Kyle turned to Alex, suddenly more animated than he’d been in the entire last twenty minutes they’d been standing there. “Look, my dad’s easy. We get Tess or Max or Isabel or any other freaking alien that turns up to put a bullet hole in the wall somewhere that’s easy to overlook. But this guy’s got me nervous. Dad was mostly laughing about it… but this guy could be a loose cannon. He doesn’t have proof of anything, but he saw Max Evans running up to Liz.”

Alex was silent for a moment, his mind once again jumping from Max to Isabel to Tess as the fullness of the situation hit him. He kicked at a rock angrily, and said the one thing that was on both of their minds. “Guys like that don’t need proof.”

*************

“Yo, Liz, table seven, order up.”

The half-disdainful laugh that met him was definitely not Liz, though. “Oh yeah, you’re gonna be a charm to work with, I can tell.”

Michael’s head snapped up from where he’d been watching the grill, surprised at the petite blonde that stood opposite him. “Who the hell are you?” he said, without thinking.

“Oh please, Michael. We’ve got three classes together, and you’ve known me since elementary school.” As his expression didn’t change, Maria rolled her eyes, harrumphing in frustration. “Whatever. Listen, my name is Maria. Liz is on a break, and Mr. Parker’s trying me out for the open waitress position, okay?” she said, speaking slowly, as if to a child.

“Did I ask for your life story, blondie?” He asked harshly, annoyed at himself. He gestured at the tray on the counter between them and mimicked her slow speech. “Table seven, order up. You wanna be a waitress you‘ve gotta wait.”

She rolled her eyes and snatched the tray up. Michael watched as she headed to table seven, a somehow completely believable smile on her lips as she passed out the food. He grimaced to himself. Of course he knew who Maria I-have-an-opinion-on-everything DeLuca was. Not to mention the fact that everyone in town knew that her mother was Amy DeLuca, owner of Alien-a-Go-Go, a shop that was half bakery, half party supplies and chintzy alien souvenirs. It was one of the few places in town that was even more blatantly tourist-trappy than the Crashdown itself.

Maria Deluca in a Crashdown uniform, though? It was just bizarre. She wasn’t exactly the I’m-a-happy-waitress type. That wasn’t what had stopped him in his tracks though. He’d obviously never gotten a close look at the girl’s eyes before. He never really paid much attention to the girls at school, other than Liz of course. He just didn’t care too much. What was the point? He wasn’t clueless. He knew who the obviously pretty ones were, like Isabel Evans for example. He smirked at the thought. If Liz was right, then the hottest girl in school was an alien.

And just as quickly as that, the sick feeling that had been with him all day had returned. He couldn’t believe that he’d forgotten, even for a minute that his entire life had turned upside down in just a matter of days. Thanks to some psychotic trucker, Max Evans had swooped into his life and messed with his entire existence. Him and his sister. And that Maria girl was his freaking sidekick!

As the realization hit him, the flames on the grill flared up, and Michael gritted his teeth in frustration, calming them with a wave of his hand. Maybe Liz thought that Max trusted her, but they were still trying to keep an eye on her.

Michael shook his head, watching Maria through the serving window with narrowed eyes. When she caught him looking she rolled her eyes in annoyance and turned away. Michael almost smiled. If Mr. Parker hired her than Liz and himself would just have to be more careful. And who’s to say this couldn’t work for them, too? “You’re gonna have to do better than sending in Detective Blondie, ‘Maxwell,’” Michael said sarcastically, remembering that he’d heard her call him that.

Liz ducked into the kitchen from the backroom, still steadying her antennae, obviously coming back from break. “Hey Michael, did table seven get their—Were you talking to yourself?” she interrupted herself, as she’d heard the tail-end of what he’d said. When she saw the harsh smirk on her face, she glanced around, and through the serving window, trying to make out what he’d been looking at. “Michael, what’s wrong? What’s going on?”

Michael flipped the burgers in front of him, almost cavalierly. “We’ve got a spy in our midst.”

*************

“Can you… do it again?” Isabel said, wiping a strand of hair away from her face wearily.

Tess sighed. “Isabel, I’m kind of starting to get tired. You know as well as I do that we need energy for our powers.”

Isabel took in a sharp breath. “Look, I’ve spent my entire life believing that the only person in the entire world that was like me was my brother, and now I’m what? I’m just supposed to automatically be able to believe that there’s more of us? I’m just trying to deal with this, okay?”

Tess nodded sympathetically. “Yeah, okay.” She closed her eyes and concentrated, and before Isabel could move, the daylight had blinked out, and was replaced by a clear dark sky, millions of stars over the desert. She looked over to where she knew Alex and Kyle were standing, but they were gone.

“Okay. Okay, enough,” Isabel said, and she had to blink as the sunlight came flooding back. She wrapped her arms around herself tightly, pacing in front of Tess. “Okay… I’m kind of freaking out here,” she admitted, uneasily. “Why aren’t you freaking out?” she asked suspiciously. “How long have you guys known about us anyhow?”

“We didn’t,” Tess admitted. “Not until what happened at the Crashdown yesterday.” She shook her head, smiling. “You know, I have to admit, I’m surprised. He was right about you all along.”

Isabel felt her heart fumble at the petite blonde’s words. “Who… who was right?”

Tess nodded across at the boys, affectionately. “My brother. He always thought you had hidden depths to you.”

Isabel followed Tess' gaze, and before she knew it she was staring at Alex Whitman. He and Kyle had been talking pretty animatedly, but as she watched they stopped talking, and he looked in their direction. She didn’t have to see his eyes to know he was watching her, deliberately. She knew it the same way she always knew when he was watching her; she could feel it. She was fairly sure now that he wasn’t a threat to her, but she couldn’t help having the same reaction as she used to at the weight of his stare, the discomfort of it, matched with a vague feeling of falling. Down, out of control.

Isabel shook herself, as if to break the spell, and turned back to Tess. “So what’s with this rock?” she finally asked, looking at the quartz she was now holding. It was good weight for a quartz, so far as she knew, at least. She wasn’t really into geology.

“I don’t really know what it is,” Tess admitted. “I thought maybe you would for some reason.”

Isabel stared at her, confused. “Me? Why would I possibly…” she asked, but she trailed off as she studied the quartz. There was something strange about it, she had to admit. She liked holding it, though it didn’t feel quite right somehow.

Tess watched her, and Isabel could see a nervous excitement in her eyes. “You feel it, don’t you?” she asked, eagerly. “Alex and Kyle have never been able to feel it, but you can, can’t you?”

“Feel what?” Isabel asked, swallowing on a suddenly dry mouth.

“The energy. Of the stone,” Tess explained.

Isabel’s eye’s widened. “You mean, you think that this stone…”

Tess nodded, stepping towards the taller girl. “It’s from our home planet, Isabel. It has to be.”

The very absurdity of Tess' statement made Isabel rear back away from the her, so much so that she had to take a step so that she wouldn’t fall over. “What are you talking about?” Isabel demanded, almost glaring at Tess. She would have thrown the stone, if she hadn’t been afraid of damaging it for some reason. Still, she and Max never talked about things like this, at least not out under the afternoon sun. They preferred to talk about extra-terrestrial things in the stillness of the night, the privacy of their home.

And they had never, ever found something “from their home planet.” In a world that didn’t believe in aliens, just the idea of other planets with life on them was almost ridiculous, even to a naturalized citizen, like Isabel.

“It is from our home,” Tess said, calmly, as she carefully took the quartz out of Isabel’s hand. “It’s… it’s mine,” Tess faltered, blushing. It’s the only thing I had with me when the Whitmans found me out in the desert. Mom and Dad couldn’t figure out what it was, they figured it was just some sort of security item or something.”

“And how do you know it’s not? That it wasn’t just something you picked up by the road?”

Tess shrugged, looking down at the quartz now and rolling it between her two hands. “I just know. I feel something when I hold it. Like… it belongs to me.” She looked up at Isabel and shrugged again, the blush persisting. “I know it sounds stupid, but…”

“No,” Isabel said, quickly. “You’re right. I did feel some kind of energy from it. I just…” she shook her head, wearily. “Just the idea that something really exists that’s from our… our home…” Isabel shrugged as she tried to find words for what she was trying to say. “It kind of makes it real. That we are… what we are.” Isabel swallowed, and she had to blink quickly as there were suddenly tears pricking her eyes. “I just… I never wanted it to be true.”

Tess gave her a sympathetic smile. “I know. Believe me, I know exactly how you feel.”

Isabel shook her head as she took a deep breath to try and steady what she was feeling, and then she turned back to Tess, just staring at her, studying everything about her. As a question formed in Tess' eyes, Isabel let her breath out slowly. “I can’t believe it. How could we not have recognized you?” she asked, amazed. “You’d think there would have been some way we would have recognized each other.”

Tess shrugged, just as perplexed as Isabel herself. “I have no idea. Maybe… Maybe we would have recognized each other, but we were so worried about hiding ourselves, that we never got a chance.”

Isabel shook her head sadly, but inside she was amazed at the sudden freedom she felt. If Tess was one of them, and Alex and Kyle knew everything and were fine about it, then there was hope. She was almost afraid to think of the possibilities that this could mean. She didn’t even know what they could possibly be.

“It must have been hard for you,” she said, looking at Tess with compassion in her eyes. “I mean, it’s been hard on Max and me, but at least we had each other. For you… I can’t even imagine it.”

Tess smiled. “I wasn’t alone. Alex and Kyle may not be aliens, but they’re the best support group a girl could have.”

Isabel ignored the little stab of jealousy that hit her and smiled at Tess, then glanced at her watch. “We should go. All of us. We’ve got to tell Max.”

[cardinalgirl]

AN: Thanks to Anniepoo98 for agreeing to beta for me, she's an angel.


Part 10

“Michael, I’m sure she’s not spying,” Liz said, shaking her head after Michael explained what he’d been talking about. “She’s probably just looking for some extra cash.”

“So why doesn’t she work at her mom’s shop? Come on, Liz, the fact that she’s coming in today, after what happened here with Max yesterday doesn’t hit you as kind of weird?”

Liz shrugged. “The sign in the window just barely went up. She probably just wanted to get a head-start on the competition.”

“No she wanted a head-start on us, Liz. Which means that Max Evans doesn’t trust you as much as you think he does. Which means that I don’t trust him.”

Liz let out an exasperated sigh and glanced at her watch. She was already five minutes late getting back from break. “Michael, I’m sure this has nothing to do with Max. And even if it did, what do you want me to do about it?”

Michael shrugged. “Maybe talk to your dad? You know he’s going to ask you about her if he actually considers hiring her.”

Liz shook her head. “I can’t do that. We need the help. When Agnes heard about the shooting she started demanding double-pay, something about ‘hazardous working conditions,’ Dad had to let her go.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, no great loss.”

Liz barely suppressed a frustrated groan. “Michael, what’s gotten into you? Can’t you just look for the positive in this?”

He looked at her like she was insane. “Positive? What is positive about this?” he gestured in the direction of the seating areas in front.

Liz took a breath and sighed. She’d seen Michael confrontational before, of course, but usually it wasn’t aimed at her. “Maybe this will give us a chance to get to know her. Them. All of them. We need to give them a chance, Michael. You need to.” She bit her lip, wanting to ask him something, but hesitating. She knew it wasn’t a good idea to push him, but she also needed to know. “Have you even thought about talking to Max and Isabel?”

Michael shrugged roughly, speaking low and harshly. “What difference does it make? One alien, three aliens, it doesn’t really matter. It still doesn’t explain what the hell we’re doing here or where the hell we’re from.”

“But this isn’t fair to them,” Liz argued, thinking about how obviously suspicious of her Isabel and Maria already were. If she kept lying to them things could get bad, fast.

As Michael opened his mouth to respond, Jeff Parker called from the back room. “Lizzie?” And as he caught sight of them in the kitchen he came in, arms folding across his chest, giving them a kindly but stern look. “Liz, Michael, can we save the gossip for off-hours, please? We have customers out there, you know. It’s the middle of the dinner rush.”

Liz turned a contrite face to him. “Sorry Dad. We’re almost finished here. Right Michael?” she asked, turning an only slightly-nervous smile to him.

“Right, Mr. Parker,” he agreed, but as soon as Jeff nodded and backed out of the room, he turned back to Liz, and she could hardly read the expression in his eyes as he spoke. “Liz I’m sorry, I just can’t be worried about what your new friends think of you right now. Or me for that matter.”

“Michael—”

“Look, I just need some time, okay?” He nodded towards the front. “Now get out there before your Dad really gets annoyed.”

Liz turned to go, but as she got to the doorway of the kitchen she turned around again. “Michael…” she waited for him to turn, and he raised an eyebrow at her. “Just… try to be nice to Maria. For me.”

He shrugged, but gave a half nod, so Liz turned and threw herself back into role of waitress extraordinaire. She couldn’t remember ever looking forward to closing time more than today. She’d been running on pure adrenaline the last two days, ever since the shooting, and she had the distinct feeling that she was going to crash, very, very soon.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, her eyes caught on the image of Max Evans sitting in his favorite booth, textbook in front of him, and he looked up, meeting her eyes, and giving her a slow, humble smile.

It was like a sun-lamp was turned on over her heart, and she smiled back, before turning to her section. As she took orders from Table Three, she thought of all the years she’d watched him in that booth, seeming so lonely and evasive, of all the times she’d met his eyes and he’d turned away almost in a panic. Maybe a smile from him was just a small change, but Liz knew without a doubt that it was the sign of things to come, and for some reason the thought sent a thrill through her like she’d never felt before.

When she handed the order over to a grim-faced Michael, though, her stomach twisted uncomfortably. Things in her life were changing, all right. But was it too much, too fast?

And how much of her old life would she have to give up for this new one?

*************

“She wanted to meet with Max, and then what?” Kyle prodded, after Tess had gone over what she and Isabel had talked about. Neither of the boys was particularly surprised that their guess about Max and Isabel had been right, though of course it was still a major deal.

Tess shrugged, rolling her neck as she did so, and looking out the window at the passing desert as night was falling. “I didn’t think it was the best idea tonight. That’s bound to be a long meeting with everyone, and I’m not really up for a late night.”

Kyle was immediately rubbing her shoulders from where he sat in the back seat of the rabbit, and she couldn’t stop the satisfied smile from coming to her face. She knew that their relationship had Alex feeling like a third-wheel a lot of the time, but she couldn’t help but be grateful for knowing he was there for her.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Alex said, checking his watch. “You and Isabel have got to be worn out anyhow. He glanced over at the yellow quartz sitting on his sister’s lap. “What do you think it means that she didn’t recognize your… rock thingy?”

Tess shrugged, sighing. “I don’t know what anything means anymore. But I’m not too surprised. I told you it’s mine.”

“So she didn’t feel… pulled to it the way you do?” Kyle pressed.

Tess bit her lip, considering Isabel’s reaction. “She was kind of weird about it. She could definitely feel the energy from it, she said she did, but…”

“But she wasn’t wrestling you to the ground trying to keep it for herself,” Kyle filled in.

Tess blushed a little. “Right.”

Alex let out a dry laugh. Tess had had that quartz since the day they’d found her. She’d been clinging to it for dear life and no one could get her to even put it down for months. She’d taken it to school with her for years, keeping it in her backpack and checking on it throughout the day. Nowadays she kept it in the drawer of her nightstand, only carrying it around when things got tense.

The thought pulled Alex back to the present. With that Trilling guy out there, things might very well get tense. Still, he and Kyle had decided not to worry too much about him until they knew what they might be up against. He shook his head as if to clear it. He didn’t want to think about this unless he had to. “So what’s the plan?”

Tess frowned, knowing something was up but not sure what. “She’s going to talk to Max tonight, and probably Maria—”

“Maria knows too?”

“Are you surprised by that? She’s been friends with them forever.”

Alex nodded appraisingly. “That’s true.”

“And then we’re going to have to set up someplace to meet tomorrow,” Tess continued. “Probably tomorrow night, all of us getting together at school might look weird.”

Kyle let out a guffaw. “You think?”

“Especially if we have to get Liz Parker away from Michael Guerin,” Tess said.

“Well, Liz doesn’t necessarily have to be there, does she?” Alex asked almost nervously.

Tess laughed, knowing he was probably worried about running into her after his last encounter with her. “No, she doesn’t have to be there, but I think she deserves to as much as anyone else. She’s just been pulled into this world against her will. It’s not fair to leave her in the dark about things.”

“So that’s… three, four, five… seven people.” Alex let out a low whistle. “We’re really getting ourselves into something here, Tessa. You sure you’re ready for this?”

Tess took a slow, deep breath, as if contemplating it. “I’m not sure, really. But if you’d seen Isabel… how she was, I mean.” She shrugged. “They’re good people, Alex. I know opening up to so many people will be a risk, but there’s no turning back now, is there?”

Alex shrugged, and he was surprised at how tense he was. “No, I guess not.”

“We should talk to Liz,” Kyle said, causing Tess to turn to look at him. “Maybe we could meet in the Crashdown after it closes tomorrow.”

“Yeah, definitely. That‘s a good idea,” Alex agreed, nodding emphatically.

Now Tess knew that something was wrong. “Why the Crashdown? What’s going on?”

Alex glanced over his shoulder as he turned off of the highway, “Oh nothing, Tessa. We’ve just got some tracks to cover.”

The deliberately absent way he said it worried her, though. What exactly were Alex and Kyle hiding from her?

*************

Morning came far too early for Maria’s tastes, and she grumbled when her alarm went off. Who knew that witnessing could be so exhausting? When she’d approached Jeff Parker at the Crashdown the day before she hadn’t expected having a uniform thrust into her hands ten minutes after she’d said she might be interested in the job. Apparently Mr. Parker had been desperate, though, so she’d given in and suited up.

So far she wasn’t impressed by the work atmosphere. Knock that off my list of lifetime careers, she thought sardonically as she tested the water in the shower before jumping in. She’d never realized how incredibly disgusting the remains of a meal could be. She shuddered at the memory of Table Five, which had been occupied half the night by a couple with three miniature hellions they were trying to pass off as children.

Rolling her neck under the stream of hot water, she sighed. Watching Max ogling after Liz Parker was even more annoying when she wasn’t sitting across from him with the opportunity of snapping him out of it. The weird thing, though, was that Liz had been doing a little bit of ogling herself.

Now, Maria knew that Max was a pretty good-looking guy, but he’d never been noticed by anyone much, and that was fine with her. Not that she was against Max and Isabel being accepted by other people, it was just going to take some getting used to. Like, a lot of getting used to. Maybe it wasn’t Maria’s secret personally, but she’d always been a part of it, and it had shaped so much of her life, just the idea of change was a little scary. And she wasn’t just talking about herself—she knew the risks involved in this as well as anyone. The more people involved, the more dangerous things got, that’s all there was to it.

Which was why she was going to make it clear to Liz Parker that telling that sad-excuse-for-a-teenage-miscreant Michael Guerin about Max and Isabel’s origins was completely out of the question. Max had told her as much, Maria was sure, but she was going to make it clear.

Just thinking about Michael had Maria’s nose wrinkling in distaste. She didn’t exactly have delicate feelings, or delicate taste, even, but Guerin was like an abomination waiting to happen. She’d always thought he was kind of annoying, even from afar, but actually trying to talk to him? Impossible. Maybe Liz did have some kind of character to her, if she could put up with that guy for so long, and the thought made Maria smirk.

She whisked out of the shower and dressed quickly, glancing at the clock and suppressing as groan. She’d just call Max and tell him she’d take the Jetta this morning. She didn’t want to make him late. As she reached for the phone, though, it rung, surprising her so much she nearly jumped out of her skin.

When she recovered from her shock she took a deep breath and picked up the cordless. “Hello?”

Who in their right mind called people at seven forty-five in the morning?

She had hardly finished saying the word, though, when a calm, strangely subdued voice asked simply, “Do you believe in aliens?”

Maria pulled away from the phone instinctively, a heavy feeling in her stomach—until she remembered that she lived in the alien capital of the world, and prank calls like this weren’t exactly uncommon. “What is this the Roswell version of Scream? Get a life,” she snapped, before hanging up the phone and throwing it onto her bed. She didn’t have time for this.

She cursed when she realized that she still had to call Max, but before she could even retrieve the phone, her mom’s voice was calling from the living room. “Maria honey, Max and Isabel are out front, are you ready?”

“Uh… yeah. I’ll be right there.”

So much for breakfast, she thought, and sighed. And lunch, technically, unless she got desperate enough to buy something from the cafeteria, which wasn’t likely to happen.

She shoved her jacket on and grabbed her backpack, wincing as she realized that she’d forgotten to do her English homework.

In a last, futile protest against the morning, and maybe more than that, what the day might bring, she stomped heavily towards the jeep, sitting down with hardly more than a groan of greeting to Max and Isabel, before leaning back in her seat and watching the houses as Max drove.

She was too busy praying that nothing anywhere between the scale of aggravating and life-changing would happen that day, that she didn’t even notice the nervous glances Max and Isabel were exchanging, or the way they were looking at her, just waiting for the right moment to drop the bomb.

[cardinalgirl]

AN: A triple thanks to Annie for betaing, Cam for her wonderful support, and Ethan for poking and prodding me along the way. Still hoping I'm not in over my head with all of this...


Part 11

Max was staring at his textbook, the illustrations of the simplistic lab they were supposed to be doing, but he could hardly concentrate enough to read the instructions. He felt a frisson of frustration in the back of his mind, but even that wasn't enough to get him to concentrate. He'd done this lab on his own more than once, as a kid, using his Jr. Wizard Chemistry set. He thought he'd be able to do it on autopilot at least, but he couldn't even seem to pull that off. He picked up the lab analysis sheet they'd have to fill out, and tried to look at that instead, but still all he could even think about was what Isabel had revealed to him the night before, when she'd gotten back from her clandestine meeting. Tess Whitman was one of them.

On the one hand, he'd been relieved. Hearing that Alex might have seen him healing Liz was one of the worst moments Max had ever had in his life. He'd been sure that he'd put himself and Isabel, and maybe Maria and Liz in danger, but if Alex already knew about aliens, then it shouldn't be a problem.

Still, he was more than a little wary. He couldn’t help it, it was his nature. While he wanted to believe that joining forces with the Whitmans and their friend Kyle Valenti would be a good thing, part of him just wanted to go back to a week before when he’d been able to hide in his own world with just Isabel and Maria, not that he would ever take back healing Liz. Ever.

“Could you pass me the Iodine? Max?”

Hearing his name, Max turned from the paper he was looking at, feeling like he was being forcibly pulled out of a daze. He felt his ears start to burn as he realized that he’d practically forgotten that Liz was sitting next to him. If that wasn’t a tribute to how exhausted these last couple days had left him, nothing was. It was the first time he could remember where he’d been in a class with Liz and hadn’t been able to pay attention. A corner of his mouth went up in an embarrassed smile as he realized that he shouldn’t start advertising that fact.

“The, uh, Iodine, Max?” Liz asked again, obviously stifling a yawn. He felt an immediate stab of guilt. As strange as these last couple days had been for him, and as emotionally wearing they'd been, at least Max had been prepared for all this, or at least, more prepared than Liz. But here she was, getting through the day with as much grace as ever, while he could hardly focus.

“Sorry, here,” he said, handing her the small bottle that was on his side of the desk. He realized then that she’d done pretty much the whole experiment already. Another flash of guilt hit him. “Liz, I’m sorry I’m not more help today. It’s just-”

She turned to him abruptly, cutting him off, her eyes much clearer than he’d noticed moments before. “It’s been a long week,” she finished for him, her look clearly dismissing the apology he was offering her. She turned back to the lab in front of her, but glanced at him sidelong, sending him an almost teasing smile. “Believe me, Max, covering for you on a science experiment is the least I can do.”

He was almost afraid to believe the moment was real. Okay, so he’d been lab-partners with Liz for a couple years now, even back in middle school. Still, while she’d always been nice, it had always been pretty much entirely about the labs themselves, nothing personal. He watched as she jotted quick observations on the lab analysis sheet, hardly watching as the potato started to absorb the iodine. A smile flickered over his face. “You look like you’ve done this before,” he said, teasing her in his own turn.

She blushed slightly. “Yeah, well… I am kind of a science nerd, you know?”

He feigned shock. “You? Liz Parker, top of the class for as long as I can remember, a science nerd? I never would have guessed it.”

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling widely, “I’m an only child, what else am I supposed to do with my time?” she asked, laughingly.

“Well, you’ve got the diner. And… Michael.”

He watched as Liz stiffened, swallowing uncomfortably. “Right. Michael.”

The light mood between them vanished as quickly as that. Max knew how close Liz was with Michael, and he could only imagine how hard it must be for her to suddenly have to hide things from him. He cleared his throat, lowering his voice even more as he spoke, even though class was usually pretty noisy on lab days, so they weren’t likely to be heard anyhow. “I hope all of this isn’t… causing problems between you. I know that if I had to keep a secret like this from Isabel and Maria it would be hard to say the least.”

Liz glanced over at him, but only momentarily, and he caught the flash of guilt in her eyes. Of course she had to be feeling guilty over something like this. He would be. She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Things are just… complicated with Michael. I mean, we grew up together. He knows everything there is to know about me.”

Max sighed, again letting his guilt get to him. “Liz, if it weren’t such a dangerous secret… I mean, I would never have brought you into it if I hadn’t been forced to.” He took a breath, intent on continuing his explanation, but she cut him off.

“Max, do you trust me?”

The question seemed to come out of nowhere, but he nodded. “Of course.” He had to, anyhow.

“Then please, don’t worry about Michael. I can handle him. I promise.”

Max nodded his acceptance, and took a breath, deciding that it was as good a time as any to put in Isabel’s request. “Hey… I was actually supposed to ask you something.”

Liz glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. “Like what?”

He hesitated, knowing that it was an odd request, even though he had good reason to make it. “We were wondering if we could meet in the Crashdown after hours tonight?”

Liz swallowed quickly, turning to him and smoothing a piece of hair behind her ears, which he’d noticed was something she did when she was nervous. “The Crashdown? Max, I don’t know, I’d have to ask my dad and…” her voice trailed off as he touched a blank piece of paper in her open binder, nudged the molecules slightly to form a message that she could read on it. We need to plant a bullet hole, the sheriff’s suspicious.

As she looked up at him, surprise in her eyes, he let the message fade away again. “I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t necessary, Liz. Do you think you could get your parents and Michael out of the way?”

She blinked. “Michael?”

Max blushed, turning towards away from her slightly. “I’ve noticed that he hangs around some nights. I just meant…”

“Oh, right,” she said. Something in her voice sounded a little off, but he couldn’t begin to wonder why as she spoke again. “Who’s ‘we,’ Max? Just you and Maria and Isabel?”

“Well… and you of course. If, I mean, if you wanted to…”

“Yeah,” she nodded, interrupting him. “Of course. And that’s it, right? The four of us?”

“Well…” Max said slowly, “That’s the thing.” He took a deep breath, knowing that there was a better time and place to be doing this than in a noisy classroom, but at least their raucous classmates provided a bit of cover for them. Leaning closer to where Liz sat, he swallowed. “There’s another one of us. Me and Isabel… there’s someone else.”

Liz pulled back sharply, almost falling off of her lab stool, and sending the bottle of iodine off the edge of the table with her elbow. The shock on her face was evident, and Max instantly regretted telling her the way he did.

Despite the noise, their teacher, Ms. Hardy managed to hear the sound of breaking glass from the iodine bottle, and she looked towards them sharply, Max and Liz sending her simultaneously sheepish looks as she walked towards them. She surveyed the small mess, and shook her head. “Clean this mess up. A little less talking and a little more lab work, please.”

“Right. Sorry,” Liz muttered, hopping off her stool and reaching for the paper-towel dispenser on the wall as Ms. Hardy returned to the front of the class.

“Liz, I’m sorry,” Max said as he rushed to help Liz clean up the few pieces of glass and the small amount of liquid. There was no time for further explanation, though, as half the students were now watching them. Max was about to apologize to her again when there was a knock on the door. His eyes widened and a string of dread threaded its way through his system as he watched Jim Valenti push the door open. The Sheriff said something to Ms. Hardy, and she turned towards them.

“Liz, you’ll have to leave that to Max. The Sheriff needs a word with you, please.”

*************

“This really shouldn’t take more than a few minutes, Miss Parker.”

Liz swallowed nervously as she was lead down the hall towards the counseling office. She really shouldn’t be nervous, of course. She’d known Sheriff Valenti since she was around eight, when he and her father had started their infamous two-man show, ParkerValentine. Still, he was the Sheriff. She tried to remember what he’d asked her when she’d first been questioned at the Crashdown after the shooting, but everything from that day had blurred together in her mind, all she knew was that she’d said over and over that she’d spilled ketchup on her uniform.

“Sheriff is this about what happened at the Crashdown?” she asked, swallowing dryly. “I’ve already told you everything I know about it, I told you that earlier.”

“I apologize for this, but we have an issue about the incident that needs to be resolved. Step on in here for me for a moment, won’t you?” he asked as he pushed open a door to one of the smaller offices.

Liz’s heart froze at what he said. She thought of what Max had said, about the bullet hole, and prayed that they wouldn’t be asking her about that. She stared at the Sheriff as she entered the room, and was still looking at him when someone inside the office started speaking.

“There she is! The miraculously healed Elizabeth Parker herself. Any more brushes with death lately, Miss Parker?”

Liz’s head snapped around to stare at the man who was speaking in such an over-animated voice. He was a short man, in his early to mid-thirties, with unkempt hair and thick-rimmed glasses. It took her a moment to remember the man. He’d been a customer at the diner a few days before. The day of the shooting. He’d been there with some woman she hadn’t recognized, even asked her about the Roswell Crash and whether or not her family lived around there.

Liz felt her throat closing up even more than beforehand when she glanced at the Sheriff. “I don’t understand. What’s going on here?”

The Sheriff cleared his throat and she thought she saw him rolling his eyes, before he gave a light sigh. “Mr. Trilling here believes that he saw you get shot in the stomach the other day, Liz.”

“Well obviously he was mistaken,” Liz said, glaring at the strange little man in front of her. Her voice had come out much harder than she’d hoped, and Liz gave herself a mental pat on the back. There was nothing a geek like this could do that would be much of a problem for Max or Michael or the others, so long as she played it cool. All physical evidence showed that of course she hadn’t been shot the other day. He had no proof that she had.

“Of course we know that’s true, Miss Parker,” the Sheriff said, sounding slightly annoyed and a little embarrassed now. “However Mr. Trilling has been rather persistent. He’s convinced that if you lifted up your shirt there we’d see some kind of iridescent handprint from somebody who ran up and ‘healed’ you.”

Liz turned her shocked look to the Sheriff, trying her best to make it look more confused than surprised. There was no possible way that this man knew about the handprint on her stomach. No one had seen it other than herself, Max, and Michael.

Unless she was being spied on. Liz felt like she was going to be sick. She turned a helpless look at the Sheriff, and he sighed.

“Liz, would you mind showing us?”

She swallowed, her mind scrambling. She’d noticed that morning that the handprint had begun to fade, but she had no idea how much of it was left now. “Sheriff, I really don’t feel comfortable…”

The Sheriff gave her something akin to a pleading look. If the situation weren’t so deathly terrifying, Liz would have laughed. This man had really annoyed Jim Valenti to desperation. “Liz, I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to reconsider. Mr. Trilling has signed an agreement that he won’t bother you after this if he’s incorrect. Please.”

Liz swallowed again, clearing her throat and pushing her hair behind her ears. “My dad’s really not going to be happy about this,” she said, eyeing the Sheriff carefully, and refusing to look at the Trilling guy.

“I understand that, Miss Parker. But this can all be over with really quickly. Please.”

“She’s just stalling because she knows it’s true,” Trilling said, and the eager gleam in his eyes was making Liz feel ill. “She’s hiding something, can’t you feel it?”

Liz rolled her eyes, her own annoyance and fear channeling into anger now. “Oh please,” she said hotly, glaring at Larry again, which got him to shut up. “Fine. Whatever,” she said pulling her shirt up to just below her bra, in a rough, quick motion, her heart turning into a quick flutter as she remembered again that she didn’t know whether the handprint was gone or not. She wouldn’t look down, though. It was too much.

The Sheriff cleared his throat. “Thank you Miss Parker, that’s enough,” he said, and as she lowered her shirt again, he turned to Trilling. “There you go, Mr. Trilling. No handprint, no mark of any kind.”

Liz felt her legs start to shake from the relief, but she took a deep breath, and focused on the indignant feelings within her. “Are you happy now?” she snapped at the Sci-fi geek. This wasn’t the Sheriff’s fault, she knew. He had to get rid of this guy so he could get to actually doing his job.

“That’s-not possible,” Trilling stuttered. “I saw-”

But the Sheriff stopped him. “Mr. Trilling, you made an agreement and your theory turned out to be incorrect. I’d advise you to stop speaking until Miss Parker is out of the room, or I’ll have to take you in on assault charges. Understand? Liz, you can go.”

Liz nodded, still not quite able to control her heartbeat. “Thank you, Sheriff.”

She didn’t go back to her Biology class, though, and she charged her way to the girls restroom. She needed to talk to Michael. And to Max. Both of them if possible, but she needed to catch her breath first. She didn’t know how this Trilling guy knew about the handprint on her stomach, of if he’d seen Max that day or anything, but they’d have to find out, and soon.

In the restroom she splashed some cold water from the faucet on her face, and stood up to face her reflection in the mirror as she dabbed at it with a paper towel from the dispenser. She’d almost thought that this thing with Max would be no big deal. She’d eventually tell him about Michael, and they’d all be together and life would go on as normal. Or, as normal as things got when you were one of the only people alive that knew that aliens existed. But things were spinning out of control, and fast. First Max says that there’s another one of them out there somewhere, and then some out-of-town Sci-fi freak is asking questions about her. It was too much, too fast, and she didn’t know how they would be able to deal with it.

She took a deep breath, reminding herself that the Sheriff had stopped Trilling, that she basically had grounds to put a restraining order out on him if he tried anything against her again, but for some reason the idea didn’t make her feel much better. She’d seen that unnerving gleam in the man’s eyes, after all. No matter what the Sheriff had said, this wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

*************

“Max? What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Max had been heading down hallway after hallway, hardly seeing a thing, all his thoughts concentrated on one thing, finding Liz. Maria’s voice pulled him out of his daze, though, and he was startled at finding her in stride beside him.

“Have you seen Liz? Since lunch started?” he asked quickly.

Maria gave a low, annoyed growl. “What, so now I have to stalk her and watch her every move? I thought that was your job. Besides, I thought she was in class with you.”

Max turned his almost-panicked eyes on her. “Maria, please. This is serious. The Sheriff pulled her out of class, probably for more questioning about the shooting.”

Maria’s eye’s widened, and he could see the quick flash of guilt in her eyes over her quip. “Oh, I… No, I haven’t seen her.”

Just as she was finishing saying that, though, Liz appeared, emerging from a girls’ restroom. She saw them as she looked up, and headed towards them, and Max rushed towards her as well, leaving Maria little choice but to follow. “Liz? Are you okay?” If she was out already, then it must not have been anything too important. Right?

She lifted a slightly shaky hand and brushed some hair behind her ear. “Yeah, Max, I’m fine. Um… I should really go find Michael before he starts wondering where I am.”

He caught her arm lightly as she was about to pass him. “But Liz, the Sheriff?”
She shook her head. “We don’t have to worry about the Sheriff, Max,” she said, but something in her eyes belied her reassurance. “We’ll talk tonight, okay?”

Max nodded, watching as she turned to leave, saying goodbye to Maria, who mumbled something back. When Liz was gone, though, she turned to him, eyebrows raised. “Tonight? Have a hot date?” There was something strange in her voice, but Max couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

“Date? No. We’re having a meeting.”

“We? Who’s we?”

Max shrugged. “Everybody.”

Maria pulled back slightly. “And what, I wasn’t invited?”

At the insulted sound in her voice he shook himself out of thinking about Liz and what she could have meant. “What? Maria, of course you’re invited.”

“So it’s just that Liz gets to find out about everything before I do now?” she demanded.

He stared at her, confused. “No, it wasn’t like that. What’s gotten into you?”

“I’m just… I don’t know. I’m just…” Maria wrapped her arms even tighter around herself. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”

He sighed. Max had known Maria for years, for as long as he could remember, but somehow in the last few days he’d started to feel like he didn’t really know her at all. “It was just that you didn’t seem like you wanted to be bothered this morning, and I had to ask Liz if we could meet at the Crashdown, after hours.” He leaned in closer to her, and spoke quietly, though the halls were practically empty, as everyone had headed out to the quad. “We need to plant a bullet somewhere, just so nobody asks questions.”

Maria took a deep breath, trying her best to calm herself down. “And then… it’ll be over? Things can just go back to normal, right?” She watched him for a moment, but he hesitated, thinking about the truth about Tess, and all that it would mean. “Max?” she prodded.

In response, he cleared his throat uncomfortably. “There’s something else you need to know.”

[Roswell Aliens]

I like how yo have started this story out. It is nice that Tess isn't the bad guy in this one. How are yhou going to get Michael in on this??

[cardinalgirl]

AN: Okay, so Annie got this back to me a couple days ago, so this time the delay was my own fault. Well, that and the fault of an amazing HP fic, which I couldn't pull myself away from even long enough to post this. I blame this thoroughly on the lovely people of this board, by the way.


Part 12

Maria tried to swallow. She stared at Max, listening to his words but almost sure she was misunderstanding him. She felt like the world was falling out from under her feet. Why was Max not more upset about all of this? “How did-how did you not know about her?” she heard herself asking, and a part of her was impressed that she could even speak.

Max shrugged. “I have no idea. Isabel said that maybe it’s because we were just too focused on keeping ourselves safe, hidden. We were too busy watching our own backs to see if anyone else was watching theirs.”

Maria took a deep breath, forcing down the temptation to panic. She was good at panicking, but now was probably not the time. “So… there’s three of you.”

Max nodded, and his voice was lightly strained. “I guess so.”

“If that’s right, Max… do you think there could be more? I mean—”

“I don’t know,” he cut her off, running a hand through his hair. “I mean, I don’t think so, but I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”

It was then that Maria realized how tired Max looked, and she felt a rush of concern, followed by a sizeable amount of guilt. She’d been telling herself the past two days that all of her feelings and resentments had been in defense of her two friends, that she’d been upset for them. Now, though, as she saw how exhausted Max was, she knew that she’d been thinking almost entirely of herself, and what it meant that Max had exposed himself to his dream girl. She hadn’t been paying attention to Max’s needs, or Isabel’s, for that matter. It was their lives on the line here. She was just the support group, and she hadn’t been doing her job.

No wonder she was suddenly the last to know about everything. She hadn’t been kept out of the loop, she’d been keeping herself out.

She cleared her throat as they continued down the hall. “Max, do you really think you want to do this tonight? You need some sleep. You... you need to relax.”

With his eyes, Max thanked her for the thought, but he shrugged. “Everybody’s already planning on coming. Do you think you can make it? I mean, you didn’t have anything planned, did you?”

She felt another twist of guilt at the uncertainty in his voice. “Max, of course I’ll be there. This is me you’re talking to.”

Max nodded, but he was still hesitant. “I know. But I would understand if you didn’t want to come. You didn’t ask for any of this, either.”

“Max, I may not be a Czechoslovakian, but you and Isabel are all I know. I mean, think about it. If you want me to be there, I’ll be there.”

He nodded again, but there was gratitude in his eyes this time. “Thank you.”

Maria grinned mischievously. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll even try being nice to your goody-two-shoes Parker.”

Max groaned. “Could you start by not calling her that?” he pleaded.

Maria only laughed lightly, though. “Okay, okay, I’ll be good. Besides, I got to know her a little yesterday at the Crashdown, and despite the fact that she hangs out with that miscreant Michael Guerin, and that her dad’s something akin to a slavedriver… she seems… kind of… nice.” She was practically grimacing by the time she said the last word, since up until a few days ago Liz Parker, Max’s obsession had been nothing but an annoyance to her, but she knew Max needed her support on this, if even a little bit.

Max almost laughed out loud at the discomfort on Maria’s face, and the rare sound made her slight distress worth it. “Thank you, Maria,” Max said again, smiling this time. “I’m sure it took a lot for you to admit that.”

Maria just rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t quite keep herself from smiling, at least slightly, and she pulled on his arm, more than ready to change the subject. “C’mon, Max, let’s go out to the quad. Lunch is half over and I’m still starving.”

*************

Larry Trilling was escorted off of school grounds by Valenti, but he’d hardly parted ways with the Sheriff when he pulled out his cell phone. He took a scrap of paper out of his pants pocket and dialed the numbers he’d scrawled there the day before. After a few rings, the call was picked up, and a cool, detached voice spoke to him, catching him off guard.

“Mr. Trilling.”

Larry almost dropped the phone, he was so surprised. “How-how did you know it was me? Do you have some kind of surveillance on me? ‘Cause I didn’t sign up for that.”

The man on the other end of the line gave a short mirthless laugh. “Just a simple top-secret machine called Caller-ID, Mr. Trilling.” And then, after a pause, “I thought I made it clear that you were not to contact me, that I would instead be in touch with you when I found it necessary, and not before.”

“Forget it,” Larry interrupted the lecture, even though the other man’s voice gave him chills. “Just forget it. I was wrong about the girl, it’s over.”

“What do you mean you were wrong?” the man on the other end demanded. “And let me remind you that from here on out, I will be the one to decide when and how it is ‘over’ as you say.”

“But there was no handprint on the girl’s stomach, where I thought I saw her get shot,” Larry said, nervously.

“Thought you saw? Either you saw it or you didn’t. Up to this point you have lead me to believe that you knew exactly what you saw. Are you now telling me that you’ve been wasting my time?”

“No,” Larry said, automatically. “I mean, I-I don’t know. But you said there would be a handprint where she was healed, and I just made a fool of myself in front of her and the Sheriff when I—”

“Are you saying that you risked exposing a possible subject to the local authorities?” The voice on the other line raised a few decibels, and Larry shook, despite the fact that the man he was talking to was not even in the same state as himself.

“You told me to investigate the handprint,” Larry said, pathetically.

“I told you to remain discreet,” the voice countered, coldly. “Mr. Trilling, if you weren’t an eyewitness to the alleged event, I would have you killed simply for your stupidity.” The sarcasm in the voice was palpable, and Larry knew that the man behind it didn't really have that option available to him under the circumstances, but he still shivered as the voice continued. “As it stands, you are not to take any action whatsoever until you receive further instruction. I will be sending a much more reliable source to your location, and you are to follow his orders when he arrives.”

“But… how am I supposed to find this guy when he gets here?” Larry asked, feeling doubly insulted that not only were his methods being put to question, he was being sent a baby-sitter also.

“He’ll find you, Mr. Trilling. Don’t worry, you’ll know him when the time comes. And Mr. Trilling? If you make a mistake like this again, I will not be as forgiving. Remember that.”

Larry was about to respond, but it was too late, the man had hung up. He swore, jamming the phone back in his pocket. He had a feeling he was going to be in Roswell much longer than planned.


*************

“I can’t believe your dad actually agreed to this,” Michael said, throwing a dishtowel he’d been using to wipe down the grill away from him. His shift was over, and he was tired, but he’d been stalling leaving for almost ten minutes. “Using the diner after hours?”

“Well, I sort of implied that it was a study group,” Liz admitted, hesitantly. “And I explained that since there were so many people it would just be easier down here than in the apartment.”

Michael raised an eyebrow at that. “So what, now you’re lying to your dad? That’s how it starts, Liz. This is dangerous, I can’t believe you don’t see that.”

“No, Michael, having a guy walking around who knows more about you guys than you do, that’s dangerous,” Liz argued, sure to keep her voice down so that Maria, and the few others who were still out front wouldn’t hear. “Besides, I’ve lied for you a hundred times.”

Michael let out a rush of air, deflated, as he thought of the countless times Liz had thought up some story for why Michael needed to sleep on their living room couch for the night. “That’s different,” he said, quietly, his voice a little hollow.

“You’re right,” Liz said, her face pained as she realized how callous she’d been. “I’m sorry, Michael, I shouldn’t have said that.” As Michael shrugged it off, though, Liz swallowed, and steeled herself again. “I still think you should stay. You need to talk to them, Michael. I mean, what you’re doing, cutting them off, that’s dangerous too. I know you don’t know anything more than they do, but maybe if the four of you worked together—”

“Whoa, whoa, four?” Michael interrupted. “What are you talking about, Liz?”

Liz’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my gosh. I can’t believe I didn’t tell you. I guess everything with the Sheriff just pushed it out of my head. I’m so sorry, Michael. I swear I just forgot—”

“Liz!” he cut in, barking her name and almost making her jump. “Just tell me already.”

Liz glanced around the large kitchen for a moment, her eyes scanning the walls, as if she was worried they could hear her. “There’s another one of you,” she said quietly, the moment before her eyes traveled back to Michael’s. “Max didn’t get a chance to tell me who it is, but somehow they found out that there’s someone else.”

Michael stared at her, his face a blank wall, and he blinked. Inside, though, he felt his heart thump faster. Somehow, he hadn’t been at all surprised when Liz had said that there were four of them—and the fact that he hadn’t scared him like nothing ever had before. To hear the number confirmed… it made him want to run away and ask questions all at the same time.

Michael had always had a sort of secret dream that if he was an alien, someday, his people—his family—would remember him and come looking for him. Someday they would save him. Now that “his people” were in reach, though, he didn’t know if he could do it. He didn’t know if he could expose himself, even to them. Who knew about this fourth person anyhow? And Max and Isabel Evans? They had a good house, good parents, good grades… good everything. He had next to nothing, and almost none of what he did have could be described as good.

“Michael, are you even listening to me?” Liz cut into his thoughts. She was looking at him curiously, and watching him with a confused expression.

“Yeah, four aliens, got it,” Michael said in an automatic voice.

“Michael, doesn’t this change anything at all? Don’t you think that maybe the four of you were supposed to find each other? That you were meant to be together?”

“But I don’t know that,” Michael argued. “And I’m not going to risk it.”

“Risk it?” Liz asked, a slightly incredulous note in her voice. “It’s not like I’m asking you to hand yourself over to the government, Michael. Max and Isabel are teenagers exactly like you.”

Michael ran a hand through his hair. “That doesn’t mean that I should automatically trust them, Liz.”

Liz groaned in frustration. “Max Evans saved my life, Michael.”

“Yeah, you keep saying that,” Michael growled in annoyance.

“That’s because you keep acting like it doesn’t matter!” Liz shouted, surprising both of them.

Michael realized in shock that Liz’s whole body was shaking, and she was suddenly on the verge of tears.

“Just because you weren’t there, just because you didn’t see it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, Michael,” she said, wrapping her arms around her stomach and speaking quietly. “And even though Max saved me, I was shot. I—” her voice broke off harshly. “I’ve never been more terrified in all my life,” she finished, so quietly that he could barely hear her.

Michael felt like a lead weight had been dropped in his stomach. It was true, that he’d been avoiding thinking about the fact that Liz had almost died. It seemed unreal to him, so he’d simply ignored it. Seeing her reliving it in her memories, though, and seeing how scared she’d been, twisted something inside of him. His throat was thick and he cleared it gruffly. “Liz…”

But she shook her head, as if she wasn’t done talking. “And you,” she said, running a hand past her face and whisking a spare tear away, “you think that I’m doing all of this for me,” she said, letting him see how much that hurt her. “You think that I’m trying to get you to talk to Max and Isabel because… I don’t know, because I want to win them over or something, but you’re wrong. I’m doing it because you need them, Michael.”

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment, as if gathering her strength before continuing. “As long as I’ve known you, you’ve spent your entire life watching your back, not trusting anybody, and you don’t deserve that, Michael. You don’t. You deserve people who know you and care about you and who will protect you as much as you’ve protected me my entire life.”

Michael sucked in a breath of air, not sure if he was more affected by the impassioned speech Liz had just given, or by the fact that it was about him.

“I just-I know you’re scared, Michael, I do, and you have every reason to be. But Max and Isabel, they are in the exact same boat as you are, and I really think that you would be stronger together.”

“Yeah, well what if they don’t think that?” Michael said, almost without thinking. “What if they don’t trust me, Liz? What if they don’t want screwball Michael Guerin in their secret club meetings?” he asked scornfully.

“Michael, that’s ridiculous.”

“Is it? You’re the only person I’ve ever known who doesn’t look at me like I’m some pathetic, foster-care reject. Just because my DNA’s screwed up like theirs doesn’t mean we’re gonna be automatic friends.”

Liz was silent at that, but after a moment she sighed. “You could at least try.”

They stood watching each other in something akin to a staredown, until Michael finally turned away. “Liz, would they trust you to tell me about them if I wasn’t one of them?” he asked, pointedly.

Liz hesitated, and finally swallowed uneasily. “I don’t know, Michael.”

“Even if you gave them your word that I would be able to keep the secret?”

Liz shrugged, feeling completely deflated. “I don’t know,” she mumbled again.

Michael stood up from where he’d been leaning on the counter. “You ask them tonight. Ask Max if he trusts you enough to tell me his secret.”

“Michael!” Liz said, startled. “You can’t put me in a position like that.”

“If he says yes,” he continued, as if she hadn’t said anything, “then you win, and I’ll tell them everything, and the circle will be complete. Okay?”

“And if he says no?” Liz asked after a moment, carefully. “I don’t know how much longer I can lie to him—to them—about you,” she fumbled.

Michael shrugged. “If he says no then I’m going to need more time to think, Liz.”

Liz sighed, glancing at the clock on the wall. It was just about time to close up, and for the meeting to begin. She didn’t have the time or the energy to argue anymore. “Fine,” she said, finally. “I’ll see what he says.”

Michael nodded in acceptance, and silent appreciation, and they turned to head out to the diner.

There were a few patrons left in the booths, but not many, and it was obvious to everyone that it was closing time, especially as Maria was busy pushing a broom around the floor, putting chairs up in the center section as she went.

When he saw Liz push through the doors into the diner, Max smiled at her and stood up from the booth where he’d been sitting. His smile faltered, though, as he caught sight of Michael.

“Hi Liz. Hi, Michael,” he said, slightly uneasily as they came closer to him. Michael felt a frisson of annoyance as Max gave Liz a questioning look.

“Hi, Max,” Liz smiled, obviously trying to quell his doubts, but Michael remained silent.

“Are you, uh… ready for the study group, Liz? Or is tonight a bad night?”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry, I was just leaving. Bye Liz,” he muttered, as he headed to the front of the Crashdown. He heard Liz saying goodbye to him, and turned to give her a half wave, but he kept moving, and as he turned to face forward again he slammed into a petite little blonde who was just coming in the door with some other people.

“Ah, dammit,” he muttered as he saw that he’d practically bowled over Tess Whitman, knocking her and everything she’d been holding to the floor. “Sorry,” he said, leaning down to pick up a few things for her—a notebook, a cell phone and…

“What is this?” Michael asked, before he could stop himself. He was staring at the yellow quartz-like stone in his hand. It seemed strangely warm to him, like it had some kind of energy to it all its own.

“Uh-nothing,” Tess said, almost frantic, and grabbing the stone away from him quickly. “Just a rock. My brother and I, we collect rocks.”

“Where’d you get it?” Michael pressed, knowing that he shouldn’t, but feeling an inexplicable need to know where exactly the rock had come from.

“I… I don’t even know,” Tess said, looking almost panicked. “I’ve had it since I was a kid. I guess I just... picked it up somewhere.”

Michael shook his head, finally pulling his eyes away from the stone, which he’d been watching since he picked up. “I’m sorry,” he muttered again, and pushed himself past Alex Whitman and Kyle Valenti and out onto Main Street.

For a moment he just stood there, breathing in the cold night air, letting it wash over him and calm his heart down. He’d never seen that rock before, and he had no idea what it was, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what it meant. There was no doubt about it—Tess Whitman was the fourth alien.

[Ella1022]

I love it that Tess is Alex's sister. I really like your version of how things happened. I can't wait to read more and see the couples as the develop.

[cardinalgirl]

AN: Thanks to Annie, the marvelous, and thanks to Japan for clearing up some of my writers' block! And Hi, Ella! Thanks for the feedback. :D


Part 13

“What was that about?” Max asked softly, but Liz hardly heard him. She was still watching in the direction Michael had left, and where Kyle Valenti and Tess and Alex Whitman were now standing.

“So I guess this is… this is who we’ve been waiting for,” she said finally, ignoring his earlier question. No wonder Alex had cornered her in the halls the other day.

“Yeah,” Max acknowledged, as his attention shifted to the three newcomers as well.

There was still one couple in the corner booth in the front, who seemed oblivious to the fact that the diner was obviously closed, despite the fact that the chairs in the center tables were already upturned, and Maria was spending an inordinate amount of time mopping up the spot directly in front of them. It wasn’t uncommon for a table or two to be occupied past closing time, and most nights Liz would have asked Maria to leave them be, but tonight she was more than ready for this meeting to happen, and to be over with.

Isabel had settled herself into the booth next to where Max was standing, their normal booth, and she smiled hesitantly at Tess. She looked… nervous. Not as nervous as Max, or anyone else, for that matter, but a nervous Isabel Evans was still something of a peculiarity. She wasn’t called the Ice Princess just because she was cold-it was also because she was hard, unmovable. Or, maybe not.

“Okay, DeLuca, we get it,” a voice from across the room cut into her thoughts. A disgruntled Eric Emerson pulled a sophomore-Liz couldn’t remember her name-out of the booth as he threw some money on the table. “No tip,” he added over his shoulder, and Liz saw Maria roll her eyes. She’d have to mention something about customer-employee ethics, but not tonight.

“Finally,” Maria mumbled, quickly bussing the dirty dishes into a waiting tub and off to the kitchen. As they waited for her to return, Liz ran her eyes over the small group in front of her, feeling a mixture of frustration and sorrow as she realized again that Michael needed to be here.

“So…” Max finally started, when Maria pushed back into the room. “I guess this is everybody.” He glanced at his sister for confirmation, and who looked at Tess before looking back at him and nodding.

Kyle glanced over at Liz from where he stood beside his girlfriend. “So Evans here really patched you up out here right in the middle of the lunch hour?”

Liz blanched ever so slightly, as her mind replayed being shot, the burning sensation that seemed to be burning the life right out of her. “Yeah… yeah he did.”

“And you saw me do it,” Max added, shifting his gaze to Alex, his face unreadable.

Alex shrugged, looking uncomfortable, which all of them pretty much seemed to be, and shook his head slightly. “I didn’t actually see it, I just… well basically I had a hunch, what with knowing Tess like I do.”

Liz sucked in a breath of air. So it was Tess that was the fourth alien. It explained why Alex had been so in earnest the other day, but she just didn’t understand how-

“And sorry about the whole cross-examination in the halls yesterday,” Alex said, addressing her and cutting off her thought.

“Oh…” Liz mumbled as she focused on what he was saying. “Right. It’s not a problem.” She could understand where he was coming from, anyhow. She was still running interference for Michael, after all, though she knew she probably shouldn’t be.

“So you’re the same as them?” Maria cut in suddenly, arms crossed and looking at Tess with a mixture of curiosity and nerves. She sounded as if she’d barely been able to contain the question as long as she had.

Tess looked at Maria for a moment, and then nodded. “As far as we can tell we’re the same. I was found wandering the highway as a six-year-old, just like Max and Isabel.”

“And you’re not,” Liz said, directing her question to Alex before she could stop herself.

Alex raised an eyebrow at her skeptical tone of voice. “No, I’m not.”

“But then why did you both come to Roswell Elementary at the same time?” she demanded. It didn’t make sense for Alex to lie, especially now, but she distinctly remembered Alex and Tess being introduced to their first grade class, together.

“Oh that,” Alex said, suddenly grinning. “Mom and Dad had me going to the little Catholic private school down on Wentley, St. Benedicts? But none of its classes are coed, and Tess refused to go into a classroom without me.” He pulled an arm around his sister’s small frame fondly. “Tessa here saved me from years of having my ears boxed by strange women in habits.”

That earned a laugh not only from Kyle and Tess, who rolled her eyes, but also from Max and Maria. Liz smiled herself, as she realized that that made sense enough for her.

“So it looks like we’re in this together,” Max said finally, looking around the group, with an odd look in his eyes—Liz thought it might be wonder. She remembered how nervous he’d been when he’d shared his secret with her, and her heart constricted slightly as she thought of how amazing it must be for him to suddenly have an entire room full of people who knew his secret and were okay with it. Okay, not that seven people really filled up the room, but still.

Liz glanced over at Isabel. Isabel didn’t look amazed. She looked more like she waiting to wake up. Liz didn’t blame her. She didn’t know Isabel very well, but just the fact that she was… who she was, meant that there was more to her than the haughty, spoiled girl she came off as. There had to be.

“Together,” Tess nodded, sending a smile around the group. She seemed to be taking things much better than either of the Evans twins. Then again, by the look of Alex and Kyle, standing protectively on either side of her, Liz wasn’t surprised that Tess felt a little more secure about her existence than Max or Isabel.

“I guess we should get down to business then,” Alex said, and for the second time in two days, Liz saw Alex Whitman snap into a persona she’d never seen from him before. At school Alex was a dork, and that was pretty much it. He had a knack for corny lines, and was well-known for his computer prowess. Alex was star-quality geek, and proud of it.

He wasn’t joking around tonight, though. Tonight he was on a mission, you could see it in his eyes.

“Get down to business?” Maria asked, scoffing at his serious tone. Obviously she hadn’t noticed Alex’s eyes the way Liz had. “I thought the hard part was over. We’re all aliens and/or alien-lovers. That’s it, right?” She looked around the room expectantly, but no one else was following her cue.

“Liz, where were you standing, exactly?” Kyle asked, after a slightly awkward moment.

“Standing when?” Maria cut in before she could answer. Max and Isabel must have forgotten to tell her about the cover-up part of the evening, but Maria looked suspicious, as if she guessed what was coming.

“I was… right over here,” Liz said a little numbly, moving to where she’d stood, right behind the break in the counter.

“And where was the gunman?”

Liz almost smiled. He was sounding so much like his dad.

“He was standing over here, right at this booth,” Max said helpfully, moving to the location.

Kyle looked back and forth between the two of them, carefully. Maria, Liz noticed, had fallen silent.

“Okay, so… there were too many witnesses to try to plant something in the ceiling or the ground… we need something in the same basic line of trajectory as Liz.” He glanced at Alex. “A little help here?”

Alex had been watching everything with the rest of them, but at that he jerked into action. “Oh, right, right.” He fished around in his pocket, pulling out a small item, a pen or something, that he tossed to Kyle.

“Thanks,” Kyle muttered, before moving closer to Max. “So if the shooter was here,” he muttered, taking Max’s place, “and Liz was shot… there…” he muttered, pushing a button on the little item—a laser pen, as it turned out to be—and directing it at Liz’s midsection. “Any idea where this guy’s arm was, exactly?” Kyle asked.

Max shook his head, looking sorry. “I didn’t really notice.”

“Alex?” Kyle prodded hopefully.

Alex frowned in concentration. “A little higher maybe?”

Finally Maria pushed away from where she was leaning and headed over to where Max and Kyle were. “The one guy was here,” she said almost impatiently, moving Kyle into position as she spoke, “And the second guy tried to grab the gun from him, and it ended up…” she took hold of Kyle’s hands and pushed them down a bit, aiming the laser pen again. “There.”

Kyle glanced at her, an almost amused expression on his face, and she scowled at him. “What, what? You wanted to know where the guy’s arm was, what?”

Kyle didn’t answer, just shook his head a little. “Okay, so. From this distance let’s say we have about a foot of leeway in any direction…” he said, as he twisted his hand around in various positions. “Any bright ideas anyone?”

Isabel, Tess and Alex who had previously been standing away from the others moved closer so they could get a better view of the scene. Liz swallowed and pulled at her collar a little, feeling self-conscious as six pairs of eyes studied her and the area behind her, looking for a spot where a bullet might have been missed in the earlier investigation.

And then Tess pointed. “The door.”

The door to the kitchen was indeed behind her, but Liz was sure—

“Someone would have noticed it in the door,” Kyle voiced Liz’s own thought patiently, but Tess shook her head.

“No, no. I mean the gap between the door and the frame… from the hinges. See that? It’s a pretty wide gap.”

Liz turned around, not sure exactly what she was talking about, but Tess was right, the door was loosely hinged, and there was a gap between the door and the frame, probably wide enough for a bullet to pass through.

Kyle twisted his hand to aim the laser at the gap, cottoning on to the idea. “And if the bullet got lodged in the doorframe, between the frame and the door itself, it could’ve been missed.” He smiled at Tess, who grinned at him in return.

“So… So it’ll work?” Isabel asked, her voice a little shaky. It was the first time she’d spoken since entering the Crashdown that night, and it was clear that she’d been a jumble of thoughts all night.

“Easy,” Tess said, crossing the room to the door. She placed her hand over the gap where the laser was aimed, and there was a brief light, and then she backed away.

Kyle came over to examine the result, since he was undoubtedly the most familiar with firearms of any of them, and took a deep breath, letting it out in a rush. “Well, it’s not perfect… kind of unlikely… but it’s enough for Dad.”

“You think so?” Liz heard her voice crack slightly. Her throat was dry… she needed sleep.

Kyle nodded. “No problem. I’ll just tell him tomorrow that you stopped me at school and said you’d found the bullet… he’ll probably have someone in here to take a picture of it and extract the bullet, but it should keep—” he cleared his throat, “should clear everything up.”

“Thank you for this,” Max said, coming forward to shake hands with Kyle, and also Alex and Tess. “All of you. Thank you.”

Tess gave him a bracing smile, and Alex shrugged. “We’re all in this together, wasn’t that the idea?”

Max smiled briefly, and was about to answer, when he glanced at the counter, where Tess had put down a yellow quartz of some kind that she’d been holding onto earlier. Liz thought maybe Max had mentioned being interested in geology once in one of their science classes, but she wasn’t sure. “Whose is this?” he asked, interestedly, as he reached for the stone. Tess looked like she was about to object—

And then something weird happened. The lights of the Crash had been dimmed, like they usually were at night, but they suddenly flared brightly, more brightly than Liz had ever seen before, actually. Before anyone could react, though, the room was brought back to darkness, and Liz had to blink in order to readjust her eyes. The lights were back to normal, as if their little power surge hadn’t happened at all.

At least, she thought it was the lights. But it must have been. Because what she’d almost thought she’d seen… that wasn’t possible.

The light couldn’t possibly have been coming from—

“It’s mine,” Tess said, pulling the stone from Max’s hand quickly, though she tried to look casual about it.

“Is everybody okay?” Max asked, clearly also a little suspicious about the power surge. He glanced around the room, but everyone seemed fine, and so he looked back at Tess. “What is that thing?”

“It’s from our home,” Isabel said in a dry voice. “She showed it to me earlier. I just… I’m sorry, there was so much going on…”

“It’s okay, Iz. I just—what do you mean it’s from our home?”

Tess shrugged, rubbing the stone in her hand. “I’ve had it for as long as I can remember.”

Alex cleared his throat. “She was holding onto that thing when we found her in the desert. Mom and Dad thought it was some security item or something… she used to hold it day in and day out.”

“It has… this energy,” Tess mumbled, her cheeks flushing. “I know how weird that sounds, but—”

“No,” Max said, shaking his head. “No… I felt it.”

“So did I,” Isabel acknowledged, her voice sounding a little stronger than before.

“It’s… just a rock, though,” Tess shrugged. “Nothing special.”

Unless it flashfloods rooms with light, Liz couldn’t stop a voice in her head from saying. It was completely illogical, and yet…

“I think that’s enough for tonight,” Alex said after a minute. He glanced at Liz and then at Max. “You guys both look like you could use a good night’s sleep.”

Liz didn’t have the energy to argue, and Max looked as if he didn’t, either. Tess and Isabel were gathering their jackets, and Kyle and Alex were almost to the door before Liz remembered that she wasn’t done quite yet.

“Wait,” she called out, louder than she’d meant to, and everyone turned, staring at her inquiringly. “Max… Max, I need to ask. I probably shouldn’t, but I just… I don’t know how much longer I can do this,” she said, thankful that at least that part of it wasn’t a lie. She didn’t want to live stuck in between two lives, especially when it made so much sense to connect them.

Max was watching her, waiting for her to continue. Maria wasn’t quite as patient. “Out with it, Liz. It’s late.”

Liz swallowed, but kept her eyes on Max’s. His look was trusting, and it bit into her—at this point she didn’t deserve his trust, not really. She had shared his secret, even if it was justified. “Max… I know I said earlier that I could deal with everything… with Michael… but I just feel like—” she cut herself off. Why was he still looking at her like that? He must have guessed by now what she was saying.

“I just… I don’t know if I can do all of this—” she waved a hand around at the group, “without… telling him.”

Everyone other than Max sucked in a breath at that, startled. Liz understood. They didn’t know that they understood, they thought she’d just fallen into this secret, but she understood all too well.

“We can’t just tell people,” Isabel said, and all of a sudden her calm façade from all night was gone, and everything about her seemed… raw. She wasn’t even angry, though she used anger. “We can’t just tell anyone we want to, it doesn’t work that way,” she continued, visibly shaking.

Maria stepped forward, arms folded. “Okay, Max, I tried, but if she’s going to try and tell that Neanderthal everything about you guys…”

“Maria,” Max cut in, finally taking his eyes away from Liz to shake his head at his friend. “She has a point.”

“A point isn’t good enough, Max, and you know that.”

“He’s my best friend,” Liz said, weakly. “I can’t… I can’t lose him over something like this.”

“Over our lives?” Isabel asked, her voice at a ridiculous pitch.

Max turned to her. “Isabel, maybe—”

But Isabel shook her head, her entire focus on her brother. “No, Max, No. Too much has already changed too quickly. We can’t just let someone else in, Max. The rules… it’s against the rules… Max, I just don‘t know if I could take it…”

As Liz saw Isabel Evans all but breaking down in front of Max, she felt the last of her hopes slipping away. Max glanced between the two of them, looking helpless.

Finally he cleared his throat. “Okay,” he said softly, hugging his sister and rubbing her back soothingly. “Okay.”

As Max turned to Liz and she saw the apologetic look in his eyes, she felt as if the last of her energy, the last of her will was draining from her, and it was all she could do not to break down in tears herself.

“Liz… I’m sorry. I just… I don’t think right now is… a good time.”

She stared at him, hardly even seeing him. A part of her vaguely noticed Tess, Alex and Kyle retreating and exiting the diner, but Liz was concentrating standing still, on staying upright.

“Liz?” Max asked, worriedly, when she didn’t answer him, but she couldn’t speak, so she just nodded. She was practically shivering, she was so exhausted.

Max reached out and gave her arm a consolatory squeeze before turning away with Maria and Isabel. When everyone was gone, Liz pooled the last of her energy to turn off the lights and make it up the stairs.

Her last thought, before she fell asleep, was that Michael would never forgive her for this.

[Angelzbabe]

Love where this story is going and can't wait to see what happens next.

[Ella1022]

Okay so why wouldn't they tell Michael the alien about them being aliens?? Because he seems to already know at least that's what I got from the last chapter. Great moment between Tess and Isabel. But what would she be jealous over? hmmmm interesting. Can't wait to read more.

[cardinalgirl]

Part 14

Liz was more or less refreshed by the time she got to school the next day. She’d slept well, since she’d been so exhausted, and it had helped a lot. That didn’t mean that she was looking forward to the day, though. She was wondering if there was a way she could skip third period entirely—it was the only class she had with Michael, and the only place where she wouldn’t be able to avoid him. Not that she wanted to avoid him… but she did want to postpone the inevitable, namely, the fact that she wasn’t going to be his go-between anymore.

She wasn’t going to tell him about last night. Well, he already knew that they were covering up the bullet, and even if he didn’t, he would, since it was going to be in the newspaper come tomorrow. She would “accidentally” find the bullet hole later today, and show it to her dad, who would tell the sheriff, and it would be taken care of.

She wasn’t going to tell him about the light-surge thing, though… partially because there was no way to be sure of what she’d seen—“unlikely” didn’t begin to explain it—and partially because she’d decided that enough was enough. If Michael was curious about what was going on with the rest of the group, then he could step up and ask questions himself. And she knew he would be curious. No matter how spooked this whole thing had him, there was no way it would change the fact that Michael had been trying to figure out who he was for as long as she could remember. He’d always wondered what his purpose for being was , and as long as she stayed strong, that curiosity would be the key to connecting him with the rest of the group.

She also wouldn’t tell him about Tess. Telling him about Max and Isabel had been imperative—otherwise he would have never known that there were others like him—but now that he was refusing to tell anyone his own secret, the fact that she was betraying everyone else’s trust was beginning to get to her. Michael would just have to figure out who the fourth alien was on his own.

“So how the hell is Tess Whitman the fourth alien?” Michael’s low voice cut into her thoughts, as he fell into step behind her in the halls. “I thought she and Alex are twins, right?”

Liz spun towards him, mouth falling open in surprise. “Michael! How did you… I never said…”

“That rock thing she had was freaky. Where did she get that?”

Liz worked her mouth, but no sound came out. She was so thrown-off by what Michael was asking, she didn’t even know what to think, and the only logical explanation to how he would know any of this sent her a jolt of indignation.

“Were you spying on us?” she sputtered, finally.

Michael reared back, looking offended. “Spying on you? What is this, the third grade? And what if I was, anyhow? Were you going to hide it all from me?”

“Hide what from you?” Liz said, ignoring the part of her that knew she would have kept things from him.

Michael seemed to catch the flicker of guilt in her eyes, though. “They weren’t going to let you tell me anyhow.”

“So you were spying on us!” Liz said, pulling to a full stop in the middle of the hallway.

“I didn’t have to spy to know that, Liz,” he threw back. “I told you it was going to happen, remember?”

“How did you know about all of the rest of it, then?” Liz said, feeling slightly defeated, but still not willing to back down completely.

Michael stared at her in disbelief, with anger close under the surface. Finally he started speaking in a low, quick voice. “She dropped the rock when she was coming into the Crash, and I picked it up for her. I felt it, okay? Thanks for trusting me, though,” he added the last on sarcastically, before turning away from her. Feeling her heart tense as she realized how upset Michael must be with her now, she put a hand on his arm to stop him, but he shrugged her off harshly, stalking off before she could get a single word of apology out.

*************

Michael took a deep breath and let it out slowly, forcing his clenched fist to ease as he did so. If he wasn’t careful the whole freaking school would know about his extra-terrestrial origins. He’d never been good at controlling his powers, and school wasn’t the place he wanted that piece of information to come out. In an attempt to release some of his energy the good old-fashioned way, he slammed his fist into a nearby locker, startling the person who was coming around the corner into jumping back.

Michael glanced up, and almost laughed. Max Evans had stopped in his tracks and was staring at him, wide-eyed. They watched each other for almost a full minute, Michael’s look daring and Max’s wary.

Finally Max spoke. “Something the matter, Michael?” He was trying to sound friendly, which grated on Michael’s nerves like nothing else could have.

Michael sent Max something between a smile and a smirk, only too tight to be friendly. “Nothing I want to talk to you about.”

“Did I… do something?” Max asked carefully. He was eyeing Michael like he would a ticking bomb.

Michael snorted. “Not a thing.”

He didn’t break eye contact, though, and watched as Max debated on a plan of action. “Is there something I can do for you, Michael?”

“Nothing,” Michael said, and was just about to leave when he turned back. “Actually, yeah. There is one thing. You could start by giving on up trying to get Liz to lie to me for you.”

Max stiffened ever so slightly, but Michael saw it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Max said quietly.

Michael advanced on him, then, standing directly in front of the other boy and fixing him in his sight. “Let me make it simple, then. Liz’s priority is to me first. It always has been and it always will be.”

Max finally shifted his gaze down, but his voice was steady as he spoke. “I think that’s for Liz to decide.”

Michael couldn’t explain how that hit him in the gut, the calm assurance in Max’s voice, as if he already knew which way Liz would pick, but he choked down on the idea, ignoring it. “What, you think she’s going to choose you over me?” he demanded, fixing his glare on Max as if that would do anything.

“I don’t think Liz wants to have to choose at all,” Max said simply, surprising Michael and killing some of his anger.

He shrugged and walked away, digging his hands into the pockets of his jacket as Max watched him go. Michael knew, of course, that Max had always been an okay guy—he’d never been the type to sneer at Michael for his shabby clothes or less-than-stunning social skills. Actually, he’d never been the type to sneer at all, which meant that the real reason Michael was refusing to tell Max about himself was that he was jealous. He hated the idea of that, but it was getting to the point where he couldn’t ignore it anymore. He didn’t want to have to share Liz with anyone, but it also wasn’t fair of him to make her choose, and he couldn’t risk what would happen when she didn’t choose him.

*************

By fourth period, Liz still didn’t know how she was going to fix things with Michael. She didn’t even know if things could be fixed with Michael at the moment, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it. After all, that’s what Liz was good at, fixing things. Fixing her dad’s tie in the morning, fixing the stubborn grinder on the coffee machine at the Crashdown, fixing up alibis for Michael when he couldn’t stand to be at school or home. Most things, if you gave them some attention and thought, could be fixed. It was a big part of why she liked science—science was logical and straightforward, and fixed so many problems.

At the moment, though, as the class was having an atypical second lab in one week, Liz was enjoying another part of why she liked science so much. As she copied down weights and measurements, thoughts of Michael and everything else faded away. The only thing that entered into her conscious at all was Max. Max, who seemed to be all but ignoring her.

Liz set down her pencil, and watched as Max worked steadily for a few moments, as quietly and unobtrusively as she’d known him to work before the shooting—or in other words, nothing like he’d been since the shooting.

It took several moments for Max to realize that she was watching him, and when he gave her a curious look, she raised an eyebrow. Maybe Michael she couldn’t fix, but Max… over the last week, Liz had somehow gotten the idea into her head that she was the only person equipped to handle Max.

“What’s up?” she asked, as he continued to look at her questioningly.

Max glanced aside before meeting her eyes. “I’m just… working on my half of the lab.” He shrugged, and started back at his work, but Liz wouldn’t let him get away with that.

“Max… you’ve been quiet all period. What’s going on?”

Max stiffened ever so slightly, but finally laid down his pencil and let go of the pretense of working intently on his school assignment. He let out a quick breath, before speaking in such a low, clipped voice that Liz had to strain to hear him.

“Have you said anything to Michael?”

Liz pulled back, astonished, and a little offended. “I… no. I didn’t tell him anything.” He was watching her, as if to ascertain whether or not she was telling the truth, and she sat up a little straighter as she went on. “Actually he’s not speaking to me right now because of it.”

Max pressed his eyes shut, almost in a grimace. “Liz, I didn’t mean for that to sound accusatory…”

“And yet you succeeded,” she said, before she could stop herself, and then she bit down on her lip as she realized that Max had every right to be suspicious. “I said that I could handle Michael,” was all she said after that.

Max sighed. “I’m sorry, Liz. It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that Michael just sort of…”

“Ambushed you in the halls?” Max looked up, surprised, but Liz gave him a wisp of a smile. “I’m not really surprised. Listen, Max, I know he can be difficult, but whatever he said to you, I promise that his bark is worse than his bite.”

Max gave a thoughtful nod. “I kind of got that impression.” Max sighed, looking as if he was going over the scene again in his head. “He seemed really upset about the whole thing, Liz. I’m just sorry that I put you in such a difficult position. I know that when you get involved with… us… things can get complicated, and—”

“Max,” she interrupted him, covering his hand with her own without thinking, which made him start, “Don’t apologize to me about putting me in a difficult position. If I weren’t in this difficult position, I wouldn’t be here at all.” She gave him a significant look, and he glanced at her hand over his, and then away.

Blushing, Liz took her hand away, and pushed her hair behind her ears. “I can handle Michael,” she said again, and her voice was confident enough that she almost believed it herself.

*************

Tess woke up slowly the next morning, feeling more content than she had in ages. Besides the fact that the bullet in the Crashdown was being taken care of, and that she was no longer the only alien on the planet, she’d had the most wonderful dream. She couldn’t remember it exactly, but she could never remember having felt so very… well, she wasn’t sure how to put how she felt. She’d really never experienced this before. Most days, if a dream was really good, it made her feel warm, happy, loved.

This made her feel alive. In a strange, familiar way that she’d missed, and as she stretched her arms over her head, her eyes barely open, she smiled to herself, and let out a happy sigh.

“Max.”

[Ti88]

no no no. you said cc/au. not uc and i could care less what the writers did by knocking her up with max's kid.

great new part. i was really missing this tale. max and michael are hysterical. so michael knows but won't say anything. i tell you the two of them and their egos.