"He can figure it out on his own, they all can," Tess Harding insisted, pacing the length of the room, next to the bed. She shook her head dismissively, a blonde ponytail bobbing about behind her. "They didn't even know where the pod chamber was until I came along." She looked Kyle in the eyes for a brief moment before turning away in frustration. "I hate this life!"
With that, Tess collapsed to sit on the corner of her bed, bent forward, palms resting heavily on her knees. She let out a deep sigh, and then a more normal breath. "I feel better."
Kyle was pushing his knuckles lightly against his cheek, near the corner of his mouth, in a nervous gesture he didn't even notice for staring at her. "You look really great when you're pissed," he blurted out. He linked the fingers of his hands together in front of him, moving a bit closer to her, close enough to put one of his legs between her knees.
She barely paid him any attention. "Yeah, right."
"No, I'm serious," Kyle insisted. "I feel all this energy coming from you. 'In order to trim the lamp of wisdom,'" he quoted, spreading his hands out flat against each other, "'we must attend to our bodily needs.'"
That got Tess' attention, and she looked up at Kyle out of the corner of her face, a quirky expression transforming itself into quiet amusement, and then reserved interest. With sudden resolve she took to her feet again, which left her standing very close to Kyle, her eyes focusing steadily on his face.
At that moment Liz Parker was stepping up to the door of the Valenti household, and about to ring their bell, when a pensive expression fell upon her features. She toyed with some important new thought for a few seconds, and then turned around, without announcing herself after all. Kyle and Tess, therefore didn't find out that she had been so close to interrupting the scene that was playing itself out in the bedroom.
"Let me tell you something, Buddha-boy," Tess breathed throatily, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "I got a lamp that needs some serious trimming."
He looked back into her face for a few seconds, gathering up his nerve and hoping that Tess wasn't playing some obscure joke on him, as she seemed so often to be doing. But the avid look she was shooting back seemed sincere, and when Kyle bent forward, tilting his head slightly and putting his hands lightly on her forearms, she met him, passive but acquiescent, and their lips met.
Compared to her standoffish body language in the instant leading up to it, Tess' kiss was anything but indifferent. Something indefinable sparked between them, a turgid fervour born of the sudden discovery that each found the other intriguing and fascinating.
The clinch quickly deepened and grew passionate. Kyle's hands traced their way up her arms, across Tess' shoulders and upper back, meeting to stroke her skin lightly at the base of her neck, while Tess reached her own arms around Kyle's body and clasped them at the small of his back.
As the kissing got more and more serious, there were balance problems, and correcting each one seemed to make the next one more precarious. Eventually, Tess backed away, at an angle, and sat herself back down on the corner of the bed. This meant, as it happened, that Kyle was wrenched forward into an awkward crouch, his lips still up against hers, and her arms still circling around him.
He let go of the kiss at that point, mumbling something which definitely did not qualify as English, but succeeded in conveying the problem to his make-out partner. Whether the solution was also mentioned in Kyle's untranscribable palaver, or something that Tess hit on herself, was something that no-one will ever know, but it was solved quickly enough: Tess let go with her arms and turned herself at a slight angle on the edge of the bed, so that Kyle could sit down next to her and kiss her again. He did so, quite quickly.
The soft mattress underneath them was comfortable, and encouraged Tess to experiment with her French kissing technique. Kyle's hands were in motion again, his left hand stroking her back through her multicolored silk sweater, and the fingers of his right were softly running through her hair, between forehead and ear, sending a tingle through her. Wanting to return the favor, she ran her palm along his chest, and then daringly dived underneath the bottom edge of his grey t-shirt (which had come untucked at some point or another,) to tickle his flat, sleek stomach.
The breath was forced out of Tess all at once, and she realized that Kyle had lain back on the bed, stretching out his legs, and pulling her onto him with that one hand, which was still flat on her back. Her weight was mostly resting on him... her chest, or the left half of it at any rate, pressing down firmly against his, and each of them had one hip pretty much pressing against the other's crotch. The sudden intimacy of contact was tremendously exciting, and she could feel her heart rate pick up... heck, she could feel his heart rate pick up, they were so close, not to mention a few other bodily changes...
Tess' ponytail was falling down past her head to graze Kyle's chin, and she was aware of a strong and masculine scent filling her lungs. Kyle smiled nervously up at her, and began to rub the side of her torso, up and down, (well, towards her head and towards her feet, which wasn't really up and down at the moment, since she was mostly horizontal,) with all of his hand. Tess' breath caught as the repeated tug this way and that on her shirt began to further stimulate her...
Tess froze for a second, and then smiled, encouraging him on...
"Hey, where are you two?" The voice echoed down the hall, and Tess practically spun over Kyle and off the bed, losing her balance and grabbing the small dresser underneath the window with both hands. Kyle sat up in concern, offering a helpful hand, but his face was full of panic as he recognized his father's voice.
Tess shot him a look that was supportive, mutually guilty, and suppressing a laugh all at once, and they stayed very quiet, trying to calm their overactive hormones as much as possible before answering Jim Valenti. When he started saying hello again, Kyle replied "Yeah, dad, I'm in here. Tess was... was asking my opinion on doing a little redecorating."
Footsteps came up the hall, and Jim opened the door - Tess gave him a tiny wave hello, as she tried to make her cheeks pale by sheer force of will. Jim didn't seem to pay much attention to anything but the irregularly shaped blotch of pink color over the head of the bed though.
"Maybe something else, alright?" he said softly. "The grain of the wood on these walls is so naturally beautiful, why would you want to cover it up? Maybe you could try a stain."
"Umm... sure, alright," Tess managed to choke out.
"Nothing on for dinner?" Jim continued. "I think it was your turn, Kyle."
"Erh... I kinda got distracted," Kyle muttered.
"Well, we could order in some delivery," the Sheriff mused. "Mexican sound good?"
"Sure," Tess breathed, and her knees shook once Jim was out of sight. Kyle, who had recovered more of his composure, laid a finger silently across her lips, his eyes straying to notice how full and luscious they were, and smiled. The expression in his eyes promised that this was not over or finished, simply postponed for a more appropriate time and place.
She smiled shyly at the thought and followed him out of the bedroom, ducking in to wash up as Kyle headed out to the living room.
#
Liz Parker was troubled as she left the Valenti house.
She first hurried back through the long avenues towards downtown, but not quite back to her home above the Crashdown Cafe. She turned up the other side of Main Street, paying close attention to the dark windows of the congressional office, then unlocked the door, and let herself in.
Liz closed the door behind her and scanned the inside of the office. She searched through every part of every room until she found the flat black device. She tried to slip it into her pants pocket, but the thing was too large to fit, so she grabbed a nondescript black purse off a shelf, stuffed the gizmo inside, and left the office at a dash. She felt the blood pounding in her throat as she hurried down to Second Street, wondering when the next eastward bus would come.
It took about ten minutes to arrive, without much incident, and Liz rode all the way to Wrangler Street, the nearest stop to Max's house, and also the end of the line where the bus turned about to head back across town. Liz was nearly at Max's house when she did a double-take, found a hedge and managed to make a hole where she could put the purse without it being obvious unless you knew exactly where to look for it. Something seemed to be nagging at her about leaving it behind though, and she opened up the purse, looking through all that had been inside it before she made her own addition.
She was apparently in luck. There was typing paper and two black pens, and she sketched the designs from the top face of the black device onto a sheet of paper, then folded up the page and put in, and a pen, into her pocket. Then she re-stowed the purse and ran up to Max's door.
Max's father answered the door, called his son, and soon Liz was with Max in the Evans' back yard. "What's going on?" Max asked nervously.
"It... well, it's complicated," she muttered. "Do you remember that black pentagon device Brody Davis had at the UFO center?"
"Yeah."
"I just found one in Whittaker's office."
Max's eyes widened for a second. "Oh. So maybe those things are connected with our enemies... with the skins. One may have lost his or gotten killed, and that's how Brody got his hands on it."
Liz nodded. "I didn't fool around with it, but there seems to be a way to adjust it to any of five settings. That has to have been why it blasted Michael but not you... Davis fiddles with his every so often, and it was on a stun setting for Michael and a nonresponsive setting for you."
Max nodded, and she brought out her paper. "I sketched the designs onto here," she mentioned, showing him the rough five-segmented shape. "There's a blue bar on the side which is the most obvious way of indicating the active setting. Do you have any idea which setting it was on when you saw it?"
Max frowned. "I remember the symbols, but I definitely didn't notice the bar."
"Concentrate, Max. This is important."
He paused for a long few seconds. "If I had to guess what was safe, it could be this one," he said, tapping one of the five glyphs, then another, "or maybe that. I really couldn't tell for sure." Liz scowled, and then quickly wiped the expression off of her face. "Why is this so urgent, anyway? I realize that the thing could be a useful weapon - if it affects the skins the same way it does us. But..."
"Oh, never mind," Liz mumbled, making a few tiny pen marks on the paper and folding it up again. "I'm sorry I bothered you with this."
"No, I'm glad you told me." Max said, his eyes starting to grow excited about something that had absolutely nothing to with pentagons. "Liz, I have tickets for a Gomez concert in Santa Fe, this Friday. I'd really like it if you could go with me."
Liz blinked in surprise, and a low whine escaped from the back of her throat an instant before she could clamp it off. "Max, I... I'll have to think about it."
"Alright. Tell me by tomorrow, if you can."
She smiled, and started to hurry off. "Hey, can I give you a lift back downtown?" Max asked. "I was thinking of eating at the Crash anyway."
"Of course you were," Liz muttered under her breath. She weighed the situation carefully for a few moments. "All right."
When Max dropped her off in the parking lot, she said thanks and quickly hurried down the street, then crossed and went back to Whittaker's office. This time, when she entered and looked around, he was there.
"What the hell is going on?" he growled. "Tess was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago. Max already went inside."
"Well, I don't think Tess is coming," Liz said flatly. "I didn't go and get her after all."
His face... Max Evans' face, more than a dozen years older, twisted into cold anger. "And why, exactly, not?"
"I'm having a lot of problems with this so-called 'plan' of yours!" Liz said, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. "You say that Tess is the key, that if she'd been with you, you could have won. But by your own story, you haven't seen her since she left Roswell, which was at least thirteen years ago your time. How can you be sure?"
"She's the only chance that we've got left," Future Max growled. "And I have other sources of information... sources that I can't tell you about because it would disrupt the timeline. You cannot know too much, or the disruption might be even greater than the good of the mission I'm trying to complete here. I'm walking on a knife edge!"
"I'm sorry about that," Liz told him flatly. "But you're going to have to give me something more if you want to convince me to go ahead with this plan. There has to be some other way, some other ally that could give you at least as much power as Tess could. And even if it's all up to Tess, there has to be some other way to convince her to stay in Roswell... some other way to make her bond as a part of the group without tearing my life and Max's life apart, for the good of the world!"
Future Max was just staring at her. "He asked me to go see Gomez today," she sighed. "I want to go with him so much, and I really don't see why it should be up to me to have to sacrifice that."
"I didn't think it was this early," Future Max said with a small smile. "I remember asking you to Gomez... you turned me down, and I was crushed, yet again. That night, I stayed in Roswell myself, not using any of the tickets. I came to your balcony, and..."
"Oh my god," Liz breathed. "What happened?" Future Max didn't answer. "That's what you meant about changing, and growing deeper, isn't it?" She stared up into his eyes. "You made love to me?"
"We made love together," Future Max corrected, with a slight smile. "And yes, that's when it started. It didn't take Tess long to notice that something had changed with us. She ran away before December."
Liz shook her head, frustrated with how he kept bringing the subject back to Tess. "Well, what if I just agree to go to Gomez, and leave the hot sex for later?"
"Do you think that this is a joke, Liz?" he roared, waving his hands expansively. Something tugged at one of Liz's legs, and it nearly slipped out from under her. She managed to make her way to a chair and sit down.
"You could have hurt me," she said loudly, letting the surprise and disappointment show in her voice. "How is it possible, that you, of all people, could hurt me?"
"I didn't mean to," Future Max insisted, hurrying over and bending down as if to look at her leg.
"I'm fine," she insisted, shooing him away. He sat up on the edge of a table and looked down into her face.
"Michael and Isabel were killed," Future Max said after a moment of silence "When I left, things looked bad for you, and Serena and the rest of the people I love. I swore to myself that I would not let that happen."
"Hurting and threatening me isn't going to help you much," Liz muttered, "and killing me would be counter-productive. Maybe you should find someone else to pull of your plan - I just can't do it, Max! I promise that I won't try to interfere, if you just leave me alone."
"It's got to be you, no-one else," he insisted. "Maybe... if I tell you what I can, will you keep an open mind, think about what I need you to do? I'm not eager to give up the life that I remember, with you, but I really do think it's necessary."
Liz thought about it. "All right. What can you tell me about our life together? Did we get married?"
"We got married in Vegas," Future Max said, and chuckled to himself as Liz's mouth dropped open in disbelief.
#
After making sure that Future Max had left for the evening, Liz went to visit Michael and talk to him about the alien pentagon as well. He seemed very irritable and frustrated, and didn't have much that he could tell her, since he hadn't gotten close enough Brody's pentagram to get a good look at it before it zapped him.
When she got back to the Crashdown, the hour was late and not many people were around. Alex was sitting in a booth and he waved Liz over as soon as he saw her. As she got closer she noticed that he was nursing a root beer float, which wasn't a good sign
"Hey, Parker," Alex smiled tightly. "Have you heard the latest?"
Liz shrugged to him. "I'm not sure. What category?"
"About Michael, and Maria, and Courtney?"
Liz thought for a moment. "I don't think so, assuming the latest is less than a week old."
"Oh well then..." Alex sighed, and Liz realized that he was really upset. "Let's see. Courtney hanging around the kitchen, kinda flirting with Michael, right? And completely in front of Maria."
"That's old news,"
"I'm just setting the stage. Michael says that he's suspicious about Courtney, the way she just showed up in town this summer, and the fact that Whittaker had pictures of her. He thought there was something more about the way she was particularly interested in him, like maybe she had a notion that he was..." Alex broke off when Liz nodded that she understood. "Well, Maria broke into her locker here at the cafe while no-one was around, and found a circle of 'our three friends'..." The way he said that last phrase was clearly emphasized, "And Michael's face was circled. She got a little freaked and started asking if anyone knew where Courtney left when her shift was over, and Jose said that Michael gave Courtney a ride home on the bike."
"Oh, man." Liz groaned.
"Yeah. Maria gets over there, and Michael says that he's just trying to get to the bottom of things, and then Courtney comes into the room wearing a towel and nothing else. Maria freaked out and left at that point."
Liz thought about that. "Well, I can understand why she's upset, and knowing Michael he's probably being a dumbass about it like usual. But I'm not sure he's entirely in the wrong. I mean... what if he really was trying to go undercover, as it were. Pretending he's interested in her as a guy hot for a girl, then using that to figure out her secret." She sighed.
"Yeah, I thought about that too," Alex said. "But I'm not sure if it's a good idea to tell Maria that... she's really upset about the whole thing."
"Maybe that's the best reason to broach the subject with her." Liz stayed silent a moment. "I know that it would tear me up inside if it were Max who had to do something like this... get close to some girl by dating her, kissing her, what have you. But if I knew he was doing it for the right reasons, I could manage. Because I would know that he's thinking about me, inside. I can't believe that Michael really feels more for this Courtney girl than he does for Maria."
"No, not when you put it like that maybe," Alex said. "But I'm not sure I'd put it past him to fool around with a pretty girl for a passing diversion, because she's less high-maintenance than Maria is." Liz frowned at that thought.
#
"I'm not sure that this is a good idea," Tess muttered, slowing down to take the unmarked turn-off that Kyle had pointed out.
"Come on," he whispered. "Trust the earthborn. This is exactly why there's a make out point in every town in America... with enough teenagers."
"We could go back to my house..." Tess pointed out. "It wouldn't take too long to fix up a little love nest or something..."
Kyle thought. "Nah, we can try that tomorrow."
Tess laughed, and parked the car in an clear space, away from anybody else, though they could see some cars nearby. "This good?"
"Yeah." Kyle turned the interior light up from 'off' to its dimmest setting and looked speculatively at Tess for a few seconds. "You really don't have much experience with this, do you? What, was that time you and Evans made out in the rain your first kiss?"
"Kyle!" she exclaimed in sudden mortification. "Technically, the second, but the first was so pitiful that I really wish he was the first."
That set Kyle back for a second. "What was your life like, before you came here to Roswell, anyway? I mean, I know you and Noriega moved around a lot, but did you go to school like a normal person?"
"Almost like a normal person," she bit back. "I, I dunno, I guess I just-"
"Didn't mix socially with the inferior homo sapiens much?" he asked softly. Tess looked over at him and nodded sadly.
"Well, I have to admit, I'd never have guessed it from those kissed you gave me back in the room. You've got moves, girl; you must be a natural. But I have a little experience in this area, so let me show you something. Come on." He opened his door a crack.
"What, where are you going?" she asked. "I thought we were going to..."
"Back seat," he explained. "More comfortable. No gearshift or other stuff in the way. Does it recline all the way back?"
They sat next to each other on the vaguely-flat back seat. Kyle kissed her again, gently and sweetly, and broke off, looking deep into her eyes in the dim light. He brought his lips back to hers again, but this time they didn't stay there, instead making their way up the side of her face to her ear, and then down her throat to the smooth skin of her neck. Tess gasped at the sensation, her eyes glazing over slightly, her breathing becoming deeper and more regular.
Kyle once again moved off a little and looked at Tess, grinning to himself. "Never felt anything like that before, huh?" She caught his eyes and shook her head a little, still gasping softly. "Necking. Another 'homo sapiens' classic pastime. Well, we explored first base pretty thoroughly this afternoon... wanna give second a try?"
"Second... second base?"
"Yeah. You've heard of it I assume?"
"Well, yes, but never been sure exactly what it..."
"Then let me demonstrate," Kyle chuckled, "and tell me if I'm going too far." His fingers suddenly began to work, quickly and with no apparent lack of ease, on the tiny buttons running down the front of the plain blue cotton shirt she was wearing.
#
A car door opened, and Liz crept out. Out of her mother's car, which she was not allowed to drive, especially not without asking, and very especially not past her curfew. But Mom was asleep already, her father would be watching television for at another forty-five minutes, and she had one small matter to attend to.
She waited until the traffic across Second was clear, (muttering that she should have braved the left turn and parked on the north side if she weren't a wuss,) and hurried over towards the stretch of greenery near the bus stop.
"Yes!" she muttered, finding the object of her search still undisturbed - Whittaker's purse. "Can't believe I forgot this when Max asked to drive me back downtown," she muttered under her breath on her way back. "Though I kinda did need to go with him, and couldn't risk picking it up and having it close to him when I still don't know what setting it's on. But I could have come back here earlier..."
Sighing, she got back behind the steering wheel and realized that she would need to make a left after all, to get back on the street heading west towards home. "Damnit."
