Protector

Chapter One: Arrival

A/N: I don't like Tess, mainly cuz her character was annoying and she killed Alex…but I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt and making her the way I think she should be. Hopefully you'll warm up to my idea of Tess and Destiny.

A/N: Tess is back this is about a year after "departure". Assuming that Tess left in June, this is around August of the next year. Isabel never married Jesse and Max spent the year searching for his son. Maria and Michael aren't together. Max and Liz are "working on their relationship," as Liz has never truly forgiven Max for the whole Tess incident. The whole Graduation episode never happened…nobody left town and the Evan's don't know their kids are aliens, at least not yet…the squad did graduate, but it was a normal graduation no danger involved.

"Max? Max!" a voice called to a brown haired young man, jarring him from his thoughts, as his silver spoon shattered the silence hitting the porcelain dish below him. "Max honey, are you okay?" asked Mrs. Evans, her face painted with concern.

Max stared at her aloofly before rising and backing away from the dinner table, Isabel and his parents watching him oddly. "I—I think I need to lay down, I don't feel well," he said quietly before stumbling around the corner and up the stares toward his bedroom. Isabel quickly moved to follow him.

"What's the matter with you?" she asked, her eyes full of concern.

Max stared at the window, the gentle breeze causing the leaves to scrape against the shiny pane. "I don't know. Something is happening, I can feel it Izzy."

Isabel walked toward him, her hand falling gently onto his shoulder. "What Max?"

"I don't know," he said, staring woefully into her eyes. "But whatever it is, it's coming fast."

Whispers in his head woke him up in the middle of the night. Unfocused eyes settled in the darkness as he stumbled around to reach the light switch. He touched his bare chest and was surprised when his fingers danced across his skin, wet with a light sheen of sweat. Slowly he made his way to the kitchen, the soft beating of a summer rain spell shadowing the sounds of his footsteps.

Shaky hands grabbed the refrigerator door as he pulled it open, the cold comforting him slightly. He searched for water yet somehow couldn't find it. The pain in his head began to sear when he heard a voice that sent chills down his back. Slowly he closed the kitchen door.

"Hold him," she said, before thrusting the infant into his hands. Max stared at the child, his eyes never leaving his son's face as the woman rushed around the kitchen, securing windows and making sure the doors were locked.

A part of him wanted to believe this was some nightmare; he couldn't believe she was back. How dare she come back, after what she did?

"Who's here?" she asked quietly, walking towards him. "Who else is here Max?"

He finally acquired the courage to look at the woman he had pictured meeting for the past thirteen months. Tess Harding had returned, and she was dripping water onto his kitchen floor.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, cradling the sleeping child in his arms, unwilling to hand him back over to her.

"I would think that would be obvious," she responded in a heavy accent that sounded like a cross between British and French, her eyes darting around the kitchen. He began to worry about why she seemed so paranoid. "Someone followed you here didn't they?" he asked, as she walked into the hallway and looked around before returning to him.

"No," she said, tucking her wet, curly hair into her black jacket before looking up at him. Something about her was different; she wasn't the strange girl that he had met almost two years ago, she looked broken, and Max felt no remorse at all for her current state. "I'm just making sure the lynch mob isn't her to cut this little visit short."

Max opened his mouth to respond when a loud banging came from the living room door. "Stay here," he said, handing her the baby and running into the dark corridor. Slowly he approached the door and opened it quickly when he realized who was there.

"We tried to call your cell phone but you weren't answering. Did you hear about what happened?" asked Liz rushing past him, Maria behind her. "Something unidentified entered the earth's atmosphere about an hour ago, but they can't find what it was, or any evidence to what it could be. You don't think it's some sort of unfriendly Czechoslovakian do you?"

Max quickly realized what was about to happen; World War three was going to erupt in his living room and he had no way to stop it. "What's wrong with you?" Maria asked Max, as she smirked at his stunned expression.

"Nothing," he said firmly, he didn't want her to press the matter. He wasn't worried about Tess, she deserved whatever Liz and Maria had planned for her, but he was more concerned about the welfare of his son.

Liz walked toward him an obscure look on her face as she looked toward the shadow figure in the dark hallway. "Who's that?" she asked.

Max turned around, as the female figure walked forward to reveal herself and child in the gentle glow of the moonlight. Max waited for Liz or Maria to react, but they didn't; Liz stood there, and Maria picked up the phone. "Michael, call Kyle, we have a code red. Tess is back."

Perhaps finally realizing what was happening Liz ran toward Tess, tears in her eyes, "How dare you show up here after what you did?" she screamed rushing towards her. Max caught Liz from behind as a stream of steady tears fell from her eyes. "How dare you," she sobbed.

In lieu of Liz's reaction Maria rushed forward, her arms outstretched toward Tess, "You kill me, you kill my son," Tess countered, her eyes narrowing as though she were prepared to defend her son at all costs. At her words, Max grabbed Maria holding her back. "That's my son," he said. "My son."

Maria's breath softened as she nodded towards Max, her eyes never leaving Tess'. Liz covered her eyes as the hallway light flicked on, the Evans' and Isabel standing at the foot of the stairs.

"Max, what's going on?" asked his mother.

Isabel's eyes went from Liz, to Maria, to her brother, then finally settling on Tess. Clutching her chest, drops of tears fell down her face, her grief far beyond words.

"Well, what do we do with her?" asked Kyle, as he rocked back and forth on his heels, his hands tucked into the sides of his jean pockets.

"We could rat her out," suggested Michael. "I'm sure the government would be happy to find her. Consider it a good deed for the day, a lot of people will be thrilled that the alien was caught."

"What are you going to tell your parents, Max?" asked Liz, her voice devoid of emotion. "They're going to start asking questions."

"Isabel's handling that right now," said Max, his voice low, his eyes falling on Tess. She was sitting on the couch, her eyes closed, clutching the child to her chest. He had so many questions for her; how she got there, what she had been doing all this time, her motivation for killing Alex, why she betrayed them all?

"I can't believe you actually showed up here," Kyle said, "after what you did."

Tess didn't respond, in fact she didn't acknowledge that she heard him; Kyle rolled his eyes.

"I agree with Michael," said Maria, her eyes narrowing at Tess. "She killed Alex, she deserves much worse. I think we should vote." She paused, waiting for approval from the rest. "You all know my stand."
Isabel stared at Tess' unmoving figure. "She killed Alex, let her pay for what she did," she said, walking toward the dining room and sitting down, her head resting in her hands.

"No," Max said, "I was there in the white room and I remembered what they did. I wouldn't reserve that for my worst enemy."

Kyle hesitated, "She did kill Alex, but would we be any better than her. I say no," he said, his eyes falling to the ground.

"Yes," said Michael simply, turning to Liz.

"She killed our best friend Liz," Maria said.

Liz looked to Tess and to the others. She knew Tess deserved to pay, but was she willing to leave Max's son without a mother…

Breaking her from her thoughts, the door suddenly burst open, a hooded figure startling the group as it rushed in, closing the door behind it. Slowly it removed it robes, its face bringing tears and gasps from the group as they watched the spectacle.

"Alex!" cried Isabel, her chest heaving with sobs.

"Oh my God, this is a mind warp, this isn't true," said Maria, clutching her side as she heaved.

"Great timing," Tess mumbled, glowing eyes meeting Alex's.

"Sorry, I didn't want them to follow me. You okay, your worship?" Alex asked, grinning at Tess.

"I hate it when you call me that ," she said, a small grin falling from her lips.

"What the hell is going on?" cried Liz. "Alex, tell me this is real, I can't suffer another loss."

"Look," said Alex walking toward Liz, pulling up the leg of his khaki pants. "Look at this scar; it happened on my birthday…"

"When you got a ten speed bike and didn't know how to ride it," Liz said, tears staining her pale face as she brushed her hands against the scar.

"If this were a mind warp, how would Tess know where to put that?" asked Kyle, his eyes searching hers pleadingly. Without warning, Maria, Isabel and Liz launched themselves at Alex, they barely noticed Kyle's tears, or Max and he watched a stoic faced Tess.

The Evans appeared in the doorway, pallid and worried looking as they glanced at Max and Isabel. They knew eventually they would have to talk to Max about Tess, his son and him keeping a secret like getting a girl they barely knew, pregnant. Seeing the worry on Max's face and wondering who the stranger clothed in black robes being hugged by the girls were, with many doubts and fully of worry, they snuck up the stares to bed, leaving the conversation for morning.

As the Evans' left, Alex looked to Tess, continuing to embrace the girls. "You okay?"

"Fine," she said, stroking her son's head.

"And Zan?"

"Sleeping," she said, sighing.

"You named him Zan?" Max asked her, as he rose from seated position.

"Someone named Zan eventually has to be King of Antar," she replied. "He's wet, I have to change him." She began to leave the room."

"Wait," Isabel said, "are you guys safe? I mean, what about the government? What about Khivar?"

Tess stopped as she turned around to face them, Zan clutching at her blouse. "The government I can handle. And Khivar you don't have to worry about. He's dead," she said, resuming her walk to the kitchen. "I killed him."