TITLE: Reunions
RATING: PG/PG-13, I guess
DISCLAIMER: The only thing I came up with here is the plot
SUMMARY: Max, Liz, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Kyle have all returned from college and, in Maria's case, LA. They are thrilled to be together again, but when someone out of the past returns, will this reunion be more than they had bargained for?
Liz paced on her balcony, giddy with nervous anticipation. Max was coming home today! She leaned over the wall, scanning the street below. In the five seconds since she had last checked, Max had not appeared. She sat down on her worn lawn chair and fingered the promise ring she had worn since the day Max slid it on her finger before leaving for college. Suddenly she stood up and began pacing again, absently fiddling with the pendant Max had given her the night before Tess had left.
Smiling at the memory of her and Max's celebratory make-out session, she checked the street again. Seeing no one but the neighbor's cat, she let her mind wander as she continued her pacing. She had returned from Harvard the same day a week ago as Maria had returned from California, fresh from a recording studio in L.A. Kyle was back and firmly established as a new deputy in the Roswell Sheriff's Department the next day. The day after Kyle's return, Isabel had come home and the tentative flirtation between her and the new deputy resumed. Three days after Maria returned to Roswell, Michael came home from the college he had worked hard to put himself through. Liz found herself smiling again as she remembered Michael and Maria's joyous reunion.
Still smiling, Liz leaned over the wall again.
"It's good to see your smile again, Liz." Max's voice came from directly below her. Startled, Liz let out a little shriek as she leaned over even further to see all of Max. "Don't lean over too far, Liz." Max's voice held amused concern. Smiling rakishly he added, "Healing you is not exactly what I want to do to you right now."
Regaining her composure, Liz scooted backwards while saying, "Then you'd better get up here, shouldn't you?" Max was already climbing the ladder. When he had climbed over the top of the wall, he smiled seductively as he drew Liz into his arms. "I wonder what it is you do want to do to me…" Liz's words were cut off as Max covered her mouth with his.
"I've missed you so much," Max murmured against Liz's lips.
"Missed you, too." Liz pulled back a fraction of an inch and said, "My parents are home…you should…umm…go say hello to them…"
Max gave another rakish grin. "In other words, we can't do anything until we can borrow Michael's apartment."
Liz smiled. "Yes Max. Sorry."
"Well then," Max gave Liz a quick kiss on the lips, "I guess we should go inside."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I can't believe we've all graduated from college already!" Isabel addressed the whole group.
"I know what you mean," Maria commented from her position nestled in Michael's arms. "Just five years ago we all thought that the only way the three of you could leave Roswell was on a spaceship bound for Antar!"
Michael tenderly kissed the top of Maria's head. "I'm glad things didn't turn out that way."
"So am I," Max added as he stroked Liz's hair. She was reclined in his arms much the way Maria was in Michael's. Isabel and Kyle looked at each other but said nothing.
Liz sighed and looked around the room the six of them were sitting in. "I'm glad we made this cave our special place." They were sitting in the chamber behind the aliens' old pods, where the granilith was until Tess took off in it. The chamber was stable despite the violent way the granilith had taken off, and after the take-off it had natural lighting from a convenient skylight.
"It's where the truth came out and where we chose our destinies," Max replied. "What else could we make it?"
Kyle tore his gave from Isabel and said, "I'm still feeling guilty that I didn't remember about Alex's murder sooner. I'm sorry, Max. I should have remembered!"
Before Max could reassure Kyle, Isabel jumped to his defense. "Kyle, Tess mind-warped you! It's not your fault you couldn't remember! The important thing is you remembered in the end."
"Exactly," Max added.
Michael shifted uncomfortably and said, "I've always felt a little guilty that I couldn't see what was going on with Tess. Not only am I your second- in-command, you're like a brother to me. I should have been looking out for you…I should have known somehow."
Maria twisted around to look at Michael's face. "I swear, sometimes you are so dense, Spaceboy! She had us all fooled! I'm sorry I didn't back up Liz right away. Maybe if I had been there helping her we could have figured it out quicker…"
"We wouldn't have found out the truth any sooner, Maria," Liz reassured her friend. "The mind-warps had to wear off."
Max appeared to be in deep thought. Then he looked up and said, "I want to try something. You know how we can connect with each other…like when I healed Liz? Well I think I could form a connection between all of us. I think it might help us feel better."
Liz looked around at her friends' worried and guilty faces. "Okay Max, what do we do?"
"Let's all hold hands." Max grabbed Liz and Maria's hands; Michael took Maria and Isabel's; and Kyle joined hands with Isabel and Liz. "Now empty your minds of everything except the six of us," Max instructed. Then he formed the connection between them all.
It was like nothing any of them had ever experienced. They felt each other's love and respect. They saw that none of them blamed anyone but themselves for the Tess scandal going so far. Images of their favorite moments flashed through their minds. Scenes of parties at the Crashdown, their Senior (not Junior) Prom, their other cave meetings, and their high school graduation. They could see each other's auras, and the colors made a beautiful rainbow around them.
Max broke the connection. Kyle looked around at the five people he was closest to in the entire world, heck…the entire universe, and broke the awed silence. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm feeling better."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"That was a wonderful thing you did for us, Max." Liz said it without gushing, sounding only as though stating a simple fact.
"Thank you, Liz. I just wanted us to all feel better…to stop feeling guilty about Alex." Max and Liz were standing at one of their favorite spots, a small, remote plateau overlooking one of the bottomless lakes. "It's been a long day. We were all tired from all this reunion stuff, and there were memories of Alex and feelings surrounding his death we just hadn't dealt with. I just wanted to ease our pain."
"You did, Max. I'm so glad you're back. I've missed you so much." Max held out his arm, and Liz settled against his side. "You're my rock, Max. Without you…I'm lost."
Max looked down at Liz and then stared pensively off into space, his gave focusing on the v-shaped constellation that marked his planet. "You're more than my rock…Liz, you're my soul. Without you I'm nothing. We're one, Liz. I don't think I really could have left you that day. Especially after Michael decided to stay…if I had left, I would have died before Tess had the chance to hand me over to Kivar. I love you, Liz, and I could never live without you."
Liz had tears in her eyes as she felt waves of love from Max; both through his words and through the low-level connection that always formed when they touched. She turned in Max's arms so that she was facing him and held his face in her hands. She pulled his head down and kissed him softly, pouring all the feelings she had inside her for him into the kiss. Max returned all the feelings they couldn't name as he drew her closer to him while deepening the kiss and lowering them down to the blanket they had set out. Only the stars in the sky and those reflected in the lake below them watched the reunited lovers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isabel felt a surge of pride as she sat in her office in downtown Roswell. She was just starting her job as a social worker. As she leaned back in her chair, she remembered when Special Agent Topolsky's career placement tests had suggested the field of social work despite the fact that Isabel had been convinced she wanted to be an actress or a supermodel.
Letting her mind wander, Isabel stared out her window. A police car drove by, and her thoughts wandered to Kyle. She used to think of him as a sort of brother, but over the last year or two, something more had begun to develop between them. She couldn't put her finger on what she felt, but she wanted to spend more time with Kyle. Briefly she wondered if he would be a good kisser. Suddenly she thought of Alex and felt a pang of guilt mixed with residual pain over his death. She shoved thoughts of Kyle aside, turned away from the window, and resolutely began her work for the day.
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"I can't thank you two enough for taking these jobs while we find someone else to do them." Jeff Parker smiled at Michael and Maria. "We were having big problems being short a cook and a waitress!"
"It's no problem, Mr. Parker." Michael responded. "I don't have a job in Roswell yet anyway."
"And I get bored with nothing to do all day." Maria added.
"Well thanks anyway. You guys can have your old lockers in the back…Maria I think all your pictures are still in yours!" Jeff said in an amused tone. "We don't need either of you right now…you can both come in this afternoon and do the dinner shift, though if you don't mind."
"That'd be fine, Mr. Parker." said Michael. "We'll be here."
"Why don't we stay here and grab some lunch?" suggested Maria, once Jeff had gone back to his office.
"Okay."
Michael and Maria sat down at their old booth in the back of the restaurant. They both ordered burgers and cokes.
"It's so nice to be back in good old Roswell, New Mexico." Maria commented. "I thought I'd love L.A. so much that I wouldn't want to come back, but I really didn't. L.A.'s fine, but Roswell's home." Maria flashed a bright smile at Michael. "Plus you're not there…anywhere you are is home."
"I learned a long time ago that anywhere you are is home for me. If you want to live in L.A., we could do that. I wouldn't mind. I think I'm going to write for a living…I can do that anywhere."
"My Michael, the English major…who would have ever thought? No, I think I want to live here as much as possible. What will you write about?"
"Aliens," Michael said with a smile. "Aliens who crash-landed in 1947 and then insinuated themselves into human society. Fiction, of course…"
Maria laughed. "Really? That would be extremely amusing."
"Well I was thinking either that or murder mysteries."
"You could write anything, I think."
"My Maria, ever loyal and supportive. Except when I really piss you off…"
"Which you manage to do a lot!"
"No comment," Michael stated just as their burgers arrived. They dug into their burgers and continued talking and laughing. Maria, who was facing the door, glanced over at it when she heard the bell tinkle.
"Oh my God!" she breathed.
"What?" asked Michael in a hushed voice, clearly alarmed.
Maria could only point surreptitiously at the woman who had just walked into The Crashdown. She was a short, blonde woman who looked to be about their age. She held the hand of a young boy who looked to be about five years old. He had dark hair and dark eyes. "Mommy, I want to sit on the stools!" he said in a loud voice that vaguely reminded Michael of someone else…The woman turned suddenly and saw Michael and Maria staring at her. A frightened look crept into her eyes and she grabbed the little boy and practically ran out of the café.
"Michael…" Maria said dazedly. "Michael…I think that was Tess!"
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"Are you sure, Maria? Are you really sure?"
"Liz, I wouldn't be more sure if the little hussy had come up and said, 'Hey guys, it's Tess - remember me?'" Maria leaned back against Michael after breaking the news to the rest of the group in their cave.
"My God, I thought she was gone...I thought we didn't need to worry about her anymore..." Isabel snuggled closer into Kyle's comforting embrace.
Kyle began to softly stroke Isabel's hair. "Don't worry Izzy...I won't let her hurt you...or any of us."
Suddenly Michael stood up and began to pace. "If we hadn't have been in plain sight at the Crashdown, we would be discussing where to hide her body and how to explain Maxwell's sudden aquisition of a five-year-old child!" Maria reached up to take Michael's hand as he passed. Soothed, he sat down beside her once again.
"Whatever the exact reason she's come here, we can bet that I'm the target." Max spoke for the first time since Maria dropped her bombshell. "It's getting late. We should head back to town now. How about dinner for six at the Crashdown? Maybe she'll show up again...or someone will have seen her."
Maria, Michael, Isabel, and Kyle filed out of the cave. Liz waited until they were outside then turned to Max. "I'm here for you, Max. No matter what happens...no matter what she says. I'll always be here."
"I know, Liz. I couldn't handle any of it if you weren't."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh yeah, there was a girl like that in here about thirty minutes ago." Liz and Maria were talking to a waitress at the Crashdown. "Her little boy looked to be about five, and I think she called him Zan. Odd name if you ask me...must be short for something...anyway, they came in and sat in that booth back there," she indicated the booth the group always sat in, "and ordered two burgers and two shakes. They ate and then left."
"Did you notice if they did anything odd?" Maria probed.
"Not really...well I did notice that the bottle of tobasco sauce, which I KNOW I just replaced before they walked in, was more than half gone when they left." The waitress looked at her watch. "Listen, I get off in five and I still have to refill the sugars."
"Liz...tobasco sauce...Zan? It's her, Liz...it's gotta be her."
"I know Maria. Let's tell the others."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Zan, huh? Well at least he isn't Max Jr...I think that would take a bit too much explaining away." Michael took small comfort from this detail.
"We don't even know what explaining we will have to do, Michael." Max, still subdued, had everyone's attention nonetheless. A true leader, the rest of the group no longer resented deferring to him occasionally. "I think we should be careful. Any active searching should be done with extreme caution. Right now we have the upper hand...she's lost the element of surprise and she knows it. We should stick together, too...as much as possible. We don't want to be caught alone. Kyle and Izzy, you two stay together as much as possible. Michael, stay with Maria...I'm sure that's not a problem. I'll stay with Liz."
"That's all well and good Max, but what do we do when she confronts us...she's bound to soon." Kyle glanced worriedly at Isabel, who was sitting across from him and next to her brother. Isabel smiled weakly at Kyle, and reached out to take his hand over the table.
"We can't know that yet, Kyle." Max replied. "We don't know what she wants yet."
"Maxwell, I need to get out there and do something. Look for her, do alien research...anything." Michael squeezed Maria's hand and looked across the table at Max with a pleading look in his eyes.
Max hesitated, and Liz broke in. "Michael, be careful. Don't do anything stupid. Maybe you can check out the cave? My guess is she would want to go there, at least to see it...after all, it is the last place on Earth that she was before." Liz looked to Max for confirmation, and at his nod she gave a small smile.
"Good idea, Liz." Max went into King mode again. "You and Maria head out to the cave. Isabel and Kyle can check out the motels. Liz and I will watch our houses."
"Yes sir, Fearless Leader, sir!" Isabel gave a snappy salute and then added, "Max...we'll get through this...all of us together...we'll make it."
"I know."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So you saw the second-in-command and his human?"
Tess looked at the face on the screen of what appeared to be a laptop computer. "Yes Kivar."
"Did they see you?"
"...yes..."
"Did they recognize you?"
"I...I think so...but I didn't stay long enough to find out."
"I knew I shouldn't have sent you and that royal brat to do what I should be doing myself. You've lost the element of surprise...they are probably looking for you right now. They'll kill you if they get the chance darling...and you know what? I can't help you. There is no one else I can send. So you are on your own, kiddo. You and that brat."
"Kivar...I promise I will succeed this time. I won't fail you again."
"Keep your promise, Tess. Maybe then I'll let you back into my...favor. You would like that, wouldn't you, darling?"
Stubbornly ignoring the sarcasm, Tess beamed at Kivar's image. "I would, Kivar. I...I miss you. I will not fail you. Max won't know what hit him. I'll use all the leverage I've got...up to and including little Zan...if you're sure you have no more use for him?"
"Do what you must...just destroy the rest of the royal four."
"I will, Kivar. I swear it." Closing the laptop communicator, Tess glanced over at her son. Zan...the little boy she could have raised on Earth with Max...the little boy she'd handed over to nannies as soon as he was born...the son she didn't really know, and didn't really love. She shifted her gaze to the window of her small motel room. Just before she looked away again to get Zan ready for bed, she saw a police cruiser pull into the lot. Thinking nothing of it, she turned away, leaving the window wide open.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kyle and Isabel pulled into the parking lot of the Crash Here Motel. "This is the last one, Kyle. She must be here."
"I suppose so, Izzy. You wanna get out and ask, or should I?"
"I'll do it...you did the last one." Isabel stayed in her seat for a moment, then grabbed Kyle's hand and squeezed it, seeing the worry etched into his features. "I'll be fine. Remember, I used to want to be an actress." With that she got out of the car and strode confidently into the motel.
"Welcome to the Crash Here Motel," said a bored-looking desk clerk. "Can I help you?"
Isabel affected a southern belle accent and shrugged her shoulders so that the neckline of her tank top fell a half inch or so. "I certainly hope so, honey! You see I was sittin' in that cute little cafe a few blocks away...let's see, I think it's called the Crashdown? Anyway, I was sittin' there in a booth with my dear friend Mary-Jo...she's out in the car...and this woman who seemed to be a tourist as well brushed past us with the cutest darn little boy you ever did see. Well, what happens when she goes by but a wad of dollar bills drops out of her purse!" Isabel leaned over the desk as if to get closer so the clerk could hear her better. His gaze dropped from her eyes for a moment before coming back up. "Well Mary-Jo says to me that I had better run after her. I certainly tried but she was halfway down the street and that cute little boy was sayin' something about going back to their motel. So I was wondering if you had any guests that looked like her. She was short and blonde...curly hair. The little boy was dark. Dark hair, dark eyes, very cute. You seen them? I would love to give her back her money!"
The clerk blinked as Isabel stood up. Dazed from the fast speech and interesting view, he forgot to be careful about disclosing information. "I...I think so ma'am. If I recall she registered as a Miss Eva Tess Harding. Would you like her room number?" Without waiting for an answer he added, "Miss Harding is in room 214."
Isabel was shocked at the ease with which she had obtained the information, Blinking, she gathered her wits and replied, "Well of course! Thank you very very much honey! I'll just carry this money up there right now, then!" Isabel hurried up the stairs, waited long enough so that it would seem she had indeed talked to "Eva," then returned downstairs. Flashing the desk clerk a blinding smile she breezed by him saying, "Thank you ever so much! She was so pleased! She says thank you to you as well! Bye now!"
Kyle breathed a sigh of relief when Isabel reappeared. He'd seen Tess through the open window and was nervous for Isabel's safety.
"She's in room 214, Kyle. We've got her! We should figure out which window that is..."
"We have. It's that one, there." Just then Tess reappeared in the window. "Uh-oh, time to go." With that Kyle shifted the car into gear and drove off into the night. "Well we'll at least have something to report at breakfast tomorrow."
Isabel looked over at Kyle. "Yes we will."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay guys, I've got our pancakes, Maria's got our drinks, and Izzy's got some tobasco sauce. Let's eat!" Liz spoke with slightly forced cheerfulness as she sat down at the group's booth after setting the tray she'd carried the food in on aside. Max put his arm around her as she sat down.
The group dug in to their breakfast, the three aliens pouring tobasco on along with the maple syrup. Kyle and Liz both stole sneaky bites from Isabel and Max's plates. When they were about halfway through their food, Max finally spoke up, steering the conversation to the real reason they had gathered at the Crashdown for a group breakfast.
"Okay. Liz and I didn't see anyone, or anything, suspicious at any of our houses last night. We even swung by Alex's and Tess's old houses. Nothing. Michael? Maria? Did you guys find anything?"
"Nope." said Michael sullenly. "We stayed out there all night too." He couldn't quite hide a cocky grin.
"Oh yeah, Liz, if my mom asks, I was at your house last night okay?"
"Sure, Maria." Liz stifled a laugh.
"Izzy? Kyle?" Max turned to his sister and noticed that she was holding hands with Kyle across the table.
"Actually, Max," Isabel began with a triumphant smile, "We found Tess. Well, we found a "Miss Eva Tess Harding" who had with her a little boy with dark hair and dark eyes."
"Yeah, Max. Isabel would make a great undercover cop. Wish we had her in the sheriff's department!" Kyle squeezed Isabel's hand and gave her a big smile. "Anyway," Kyle added, looking at Max, "She's staying in room 214 at the Crash Here Motel."
"That's great, you guys!" Maria sat up straighter. "Now that we know where she sleeps it could make things much easier!"
Michael pulled her closer to his side. "We still have to figure out what we are going to do with her."
The group was silent for a few minutes. Everyone picked at what was left of their food, deep in thought. Finally Isabel broke the silence. "Obviously we aren't going to think of something this morning. I need to get to work, and I'm sure at least Kyle does as well." The rest of the group agreed, and they all left the café.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz and Max went to Liz's house and climbed up to her balcony. Liz sat on her lawn chair, and Max sat on the wall.
"So Liz, what are you going to do with that molecular biology degree here in Roswell?"
"I don't know. I haven't made any decisions yet." She didn't say it, but they both understood that it all depended on Max.
"You should, Liz. I don't want to hold you back. I'm just gonna sit here in Roswell, teaching history and coaching the wrestling team. We both know that."
"Max...about five and a half years ago, you said you didn't want me to wake up in five years and realize I hadn't done anything, that I was wasting my life on you. I haven't. Every morning when I wake I up I thank God that I met you, that you saved my life that day, and that you told me your secret and let me in. I don't regret knowing you, Max Evans...and I could never, ever regret loving you, giving my life to you. It's all I can do, Max. Without you, my life is empty. Don't make me leave you, Max, especially not now. She almost destroyed us once...I'm not going to let her do it now."
"Liz...I...I love you, Liz. I can't believe how lucky I am that you love me too. That you would sacrifice so much for me. Liz, I want to spend the rest of my life with you...will you promise me that when this is over and I buy you a ring...you'll accept it?"
Liz stood up and walked over to the wall. Taking Max's face between her hands, she placed a soft kiss on his lips. "As if there was ever any doubt." She drew him through her window and into her room, then reached over to her door and locked it, then pulled Max down to her bed. "I love you, Max."
"I love you too, Liz."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Zan! You stay right here while Mommy is in the cave! Don't move, or I'll tell Kivar you are being bad!"
"Where's Nanny Beth? I wanna see Nanny Beth!"
"I told you Zan, you aren't going to see your nanny ever again. Now be quiet and stay here!"
"Yes, Mommy."
Tess ducked through the entrance and found herself in the pod chamber. Someone had blown an archway into the rock so people didn't have to crawl through the pods to get to the large room behind them. She walked into what had been the granilith chamber and sighed. 'This was where everything fell apart,' she thought. 'God...if only that meddling #### Liz hadn't have figured everything out!' Tess began to pace agitatedly. Taking in the little details that showed that the group now used the cave as a meeting place, she walked over to the niche in the wall where the few alien artifacts the group possesed were kept. She took out the alien book, and began to page through it's familiar pages. She let out a cry of alarm and nearly dropped the book when she turned to the page that had illustrated their destinies. Her picture had been erased, and in its place whoever had erased it had pasted in a picture of Liz. "God dammit!" she yelled. Angrily, she ripped put Liz's picture and tore it up into small pieces which she then spread over the floor. She then slammed the book down on the floor and stormed out of the cave.
"Mommy! Are we going back to the motel now? Can I see Nanny Beth?"
"NO!" Trying to calm herself Tess muttered under her breath, "They may be able to defy them, but they can't change their destinies...I'll teach them a lesson about trying, though..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Everybody's here, right?" asked Max. At Liz's nod, he placed his palm against the rock and opened the cave. Michael went in first to make sure Tess wasn't there. After a few moments of tense silence, Max called out, "Michael? Is everything okay?"
Michael emerged from the old granilith chamber and looked out at Max. "She's been here."
Worried frowns creasing their brows, the rest of the group filed into the cave, Max and Liz entering last. At the sight of Tess' mess, Liz's mouth dropped open. "Max..."
"Obviously Tess wasn't pleased with our little slap in the face of destiny." commented Michael.
"It's a good thing we haven't finished the job yet, or she might have gone really crazy." said Maria, referring to their little project of rewriting the alien book. They were going to wipe off Isabel's face and put Maria's picture in.
Isabel got down on her knees to clean up the mess. Gathering the bits of paper, she handed them up to Max, who repaired the picture with his powers. He handed the picture back down to her and she fused it back into the book saying, "Maybe it's good that we have her mad. People don't think as clearly when they are angry. Maybe this will bring her out in the open."
Kyle reached down and pulled Isabel to her feet and to his side. "Then we should all be more careful. I'll keep an eye out for her while I'm on patrol."
"We should all stick together at night. Everybody move in to my apartment." Michael gave everyone a look that practically dared them to challenge him. Maria did.
"Sure, Spaceboy, and advertise the fact that something is up? We're too old for sleepovers. Those of us who are still staying with our parents because we don't have apartments yet will have a hard time thinking up excuses. We should just go about our business the same as always except be on our guard."
"Exactly," Liz chimed in. "We don't want her to think we are scared of her. We can't let her intimidate us."
"Liz and Maria are right." Max reached out and put a hand on Michael's shoulder. "I know you are concerned for everyone's safety, and so am I. But we can't let Tess dictate how we live our lives." Max dropped his hand and turned so he faced the whole group. "We almost let that happen five years ago, we can't let it happen now. Eveyone go home. Watch your backs, but don't be paranoid. We'll meet here again tomorrow after dinner." He took Liz's hand and walked out of the cave. Isabel followed him, and Kyle gave Michael a sympathetic look before turning to follow Isabel.
Maria wrapped her arms around Michael's waist. "Thank you for worrying about me, Michael. But I'll be fine. Tomorrow you stay home and work on your book. I'll come and see you in the morning, but I'm meeting Liz and Isabel for lunch. Okay?"
"I love you, Maria. Don't do anything stupid."
Maria laughed and gave him a quick kiss. "I promise. Now take me home, Spaceboy."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So then after I told the producer to 'f' off, he looked me straight in the eye and said 'You're hired.' I couldn't believe it! God, if I'd only know that was all I had to do to get somebody to listen to me sing I'd have been rich in a week!" Maria laughed as she talked to Isabel and Liz. They were sitting in the group booth at the Crashdown having lunch.
Isabel took a sip of her soda. "That's awesome, Maria. Anyway, I was thinking. We can't live with our parents forever, but I don't really want to rent an apartment by myself. So I was wondering if you girls would want to chip in and rent one with me."
Liz looked surprised. "You mean like, be roommates?"
"Yeah. I know I didn't really warm up to you guys for a while, but now you two are...well you're like surrogate sisters. After all, you're dating my brothers. Well my brother and my almost-brother. That makes us sisters. So please, will you?"
Maria looked at Liz, who gave an slight nod. "We'd love to, Izzy," she said decisively.
Isabel beamed. "Great. Now let's finish lunch and go apartment hunting before I have to get back to work!" The three women hurriedly finished their burgers and left the Crashdown.
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TWO WEEKS LATER...
Tess paced in her motel room, deep in thought. Zan sat docily on the bed playing with a new GameBoy his mother had bought him to keep him quiet. In the two weeks since they had arrived in Roswell, Zan had learned that his mother would rather not have him underfoot and that the best thing for him to do was to follow her when she wanted him to or stay put when she didn't. He looked up from his game as his mother's laptop began to make beeping noises and a small light in the right-hand corner began to flash. Tess hurried over to it and Zan returned his attention to the game.
Kivar's slightly annoyed face filled the screen when Tess opened the laptop, and his voice evidenced his frustration more clearly than his face.
"You sent a message, Tess. What do you want?"
"I have plan, Kivar."
Kivar's annoyance faded, and he leaned forward. "What it it?"
"I'll need some extra supplies..."
"You have them. Now what's the plan?"
"Well..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Maria!" Isabel shouted impatiently. "For God's sake, it's just the guys, the place doesn't have to be perfect for them!" Liz smiled at Isabel sympathetically and rolled her eyes.
"I want the place to look nice!" Maria protested as she walked into the living room from her bedroom. "Anyway, I'm ready now." She walked over to the door and opened it. "Okay boys, come on in!"
The guys walked into the apartment and paired off with one of the girls for a grand tour. The apartment consisted of a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms on the main floor, and a loft. Maria and Liz had the downstairs rooms, and Isabel had the loft. After all the guys had seen the apartment, the group gathered in the living room again. The conversation soon turned to Tess, and her lack of activity.
"Maybe she's gone." Isabel's voice held a combination of hope, doubt, and a tinge of fear.
"I don't think so." Max didn't like saying it, but he felt it was the truth. "I think she's planning something."
"I think she's trying to regain the element of surprise she lost when Maria and I saw her in the Crashdown." Michael pulled Maria closer to his side. "We should be even more careful now than before."
Suddenly Liz stood up. "Max and I have a date tonight. I don't want to think about Tess right now. I'm gonna get ready. Wait for me, Max." With that, she hurried out of the room.
The group looked to Maria for an explanation. "I don't know guys..." she protested. "She's probably just tired of it all."
Max looked guilty for a moment, but smiled when Liz came out of her room dressed to kill in a lovely little black dress. He took her arm and they left, smiling in goodbye as they left.
Michael and Maria left as well because they were going to work the dinner shift at the Crashdown. Isabel and Kyle were left sitting on the couch alone in the apartment.
"I guess we're the only ones without plans tonight," said Kyle.
"Yeah...you, uh, wanna hang out here?"
"I don't know..."
"Please Kyle...I don't...I don't want to be alone right now."
Kyle turned so that he and Isabel were face to face. "Okay."
"Thank you." Kyle leaned closer.
"Your welcome." Isabel knew he was going to kiss her.
"Kyle..."
"Shh..." He placed a tender kiss on her lips. Frozen, she tried to picture Alex's face clearly. All she got was the sense that he wanted her to move on. Giving in to the moment she returned Kyle's kiss.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz and Max sat at a small, secluded table in a little Italian restaurant that they both loved. They were just finishing their deserts when Max spoke up.
"I know I said I wouldn't buy you a ring until this business with Tess is over, but I couldn't wait. I bought one anyway." Max reached into an inside pocket in his blazer and pulled out a small velvet box. Liz let out a small gasp.
Opening the box, she let out a louder gasp when she saw the beautiful ring Max had bought her. It wasn't a typical diamond solitaire, but a princess cut ruby encircled by tiny ice blue sapphires.
"I figured since everything about our relationship is out of the ordinary, an ordinary engagement ring would be out of the question. The ruby is for my heart, because it's been yours since the first day I saw you. It's princess cut because no matter what anyone says about my destiny, you'll always be my queen. The sapphires are for my soul, it's been yours since the day I healed you in the Crashdown. I love you Liz Parker, and I want the world to know it. So will you wear my ring?"
Liz looked at Max with tears in her eyes. "Of course I will, Max. Umm, can we leave now?"
"Where did you want to go?" asked Max playfully, catching the gleam in Liz's eyes.
"I was thinking maybe the overlook by the lake?"
Max grinned rakishly. "Sounds like a plan to me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day Liz was walking down the street towards West Roswell High. After she crept into the apartment around three in the morning she'd done a lot of thinking. She'd realized that she didn't want to be the head of molecular biology research at Harvard anymore. She wanted to teach biology and sponsor the Science Club and see Max every day at work. *Maybe we could use the Eraser Room* she thought. Smiling at the thought, she turned a corner.
And ran smack into Tess.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So, Max. I didn't get a chance to talk to Liz this morning 'cuz I was in a hurry, but I noticed an awful nice ring on her finger...that wouldn't happen to have anything to do with you, would it?" Isabel smiled expectantly at her brother across her desk.
"It might."
"Oh? Tell me about it."
"We're getting married."
"When?" Isabel's expression didn't change except for her smile getting a bit bigger.
"What, no surprise?"
"Max, please. I've known you and Liz would end up married since ages ago. It was so obvious...what else could you guys do?"
"I guess. Listen, let's all meet at the Crashdown for dinner tonight so Liz and I can make a formal announcement. How's that sound to you?"
"Sounds great. No go away. I have work to do."
"I was thinking that maybe I'd hang around for a while..."
"Max, I appreciate your concern, but-"
"I'm keeping an eye on her Max, don't worry." Max turned to see Kyle standing in the doorway. He turned back to see Isabel's cheeks going pink.
"Uh-huh. Okay. I'll leave you to...keep on an eye on her by yourself, then." He winked at Kyle and then said to Izzy, "Have fun."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everyone except Liz and Max had arrived at the Crashdown. Max walked in to find the other four sitting at the booth already. The booth next to them was occupied by a small woman in a jacket with a hood that was pulled down in front of her face. Taking no notice of the woman, he slid into the booth saying,
"Where's Liz?"
"Max, what do you mean?" Maria looked worried.
Michael tensed. "We thought she was with you, Maxwell."
"Well she's not."
Isabel, squashing rising panic, said, "Well I haven't seen her since this morning so she didn't get the message to meet here if you haven't seen her, Max." At Max's negative response, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed the girls' apartment. She was silent for a minute or so. "She's not answering the phone."
"That's because she's not in the apartment, Isabel." The woman in the next booth took off the hood, revealing that she was in fact, Tess. "She's not in the apartment because she is...somewhere else."
Max jumped up from the booth to confront Tess only to find that she had disappeared, leaving only an empty bottle of tobasco sauce to suggest she had even been there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz awoke with a terrible crick in her neck. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Instead of seeing her bedroom walls as she expected she saw the cold stone wall of the old granilith chamber, about an inch and a half from her face. She gasped, frozen with shock.
"I trust you had a nice nap, Liz darling?" Tess' voice held blatant hatred. At the sound of it, Liz quickly sat up and turned towards her.
"You know they'll come here first," she began.
"That they will, but they won't be able to see you."
"Wha...what do you mean by that?" Tess chuckled softly, menacingly.
"They won't be able to see you, Liz. To them, it will appear that there is no one in the room. You however, will be able to see them. You will be able to see their worried faces, and you will be able to see their destruction. Revenge is sweet, Lizzy-dear. You would have done well to remember that, you and "King" Max."
"You can't keep a mind-warp on all of them long enough."
"It's not a mind-warp, Liz. I'm smarter than that, stronger than that now. I have all the alien technology I need at my disposal, thanks to Kivar. You all should have thought of that as well." Liz was silent. "I'll be leaving you now, Liz. Your friends should be arriving soon." Tess turned to leave. "Oh and by the way, I'll be sending you some company soon." With that cryptic remark, she strode out of the cave.
Liz, still partly in shock, stayed on the floor of the cave for another minute or so. Finally, she stood up and and started to walk. She hadn't gone two full paces when she came up against an invisible wall. With a cry of dismay, she followed the invisible wall around and determined the size of her cage. "It's too small," she said to no one in particular. "They won't notice the space is gone." Fighting rising panic, Liz retreated to the corner of her cell and sat down to think.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay. I'm going to open the cave. Michael, you go in and check things out for us. If Tess is in there, try not to let her see you. Don't play the hero. You got it?"
"Sure, Max. I've got it." Seeing the hint of wildness entering Max's eyes, Michael took hold of him by the shoulders. "I wouldn't risk Maria's life, I won't risk Liz's. We're going to get her back, Maxwell."
Max's shoulders lost a fraction of their tension and the wildness began to clear. "Thanks, man. I needed that. Now go in there. Maria, Izzy, Kyle and I will wait for you to come back with the all-clear."
Michael nodded. Max opened the cave, and Michael ducked in. A minute or so later he stuck his head out and motioned the others to come in.
They did, and they sat huddled closer together than normal, as if they feared one of them might disappear as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As soon as she saw Michael enter the cave Liz jumped to her feet. When the rest of the group came in, she began screaming. Although they all scanned the room nervously, their eyes passed right over Liz without seeing her. Liz banged on the invisible wall, but even she couldn't hear that noise. Regaining her control, Liz quieted and realized she could hear what the group was saying. Worrying her engagement ring and staring at Max, she sat down and settled in to listen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"If I were a jealously crazed evil alien, where would I hide the object of my obsession's fiancee?" Maria's attempt at humor brought half-hearted smiles to everyone's faces, but did nothing to lift their spirits.
Max stared at the floor. "I was so sure she'd be here. I had this feeling...I was sure..."
In her cage, Liz thought *I am here, Max...you're right, I'm here!*
Max looked up at the group. "I still can't shake the feeling. That kills me. She's obviously not here, but I still feel sure she is."
"Maybe there's a reason, Maxwell. Maybe Tess..."
"Maybe Tess is screwing with our minds again." interjected Maria.
Isabel reached out and touched Max's arm. "I'll try and contact her in her dreams, tonight. She won't be sleeping now, though...or I wouldn't be if I were her..." As Isabel trailed off, Kyle hugged her closer to him and kissed the top of her head, inhaling the scent of her hair.
The group sat in a tense silence. The looks on all of their faces were mixes of fear, sadness, and anger. Max's eyes still held that vague hint of wildness.
Inside her cage, Liz felt her heart break for Max when she finally got a good look in his eyes. She almost felt him make eye contact, but then she realized he was looking through her. Liz couldn't help but let out a cry of pure, unadulterated fear when she saw Tess enter the cave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Aren't you a happy crowd?" Tess commented in a voice filled with mocking sarcasm.
The warrior light in his eyes again, Max jumped up from the floor and extended his had towards Tess. The blast of energy he released went right through her.
At the group's surprised gasps, Tess let out a harsh laugh. "Isn't alien technology wonderful, Max? I just wanted to say hello. And I wanted to introduce you to someone."
Max made no move, save for a muscle in his jaw clenching and unclenching. The image of Tess faded for a moment, then came back strong, and this time with her was a little boy. He bore a striking resemblance to Max.
"Max, I'd like you to meet Zan. He's your son. Isn't he cute? Say hi to your daddy, Zan."
The little boy gazed solemnly out at the group. He shrank away from his mother's angry gestures and looked pleadingly at Max. "Hello, Daddy."
Max's heart, had it not broken at that moment, would have broken at the words he heard in his head next, in the same small, scared voice. *Help me, Daddy! I love you!*
Liz heard the words as well, her heart was so connected to Max's. She began to softly cry, and immediatly she loved this child...Max's son.
Tess, however, did not hear the words. She did, however she the emotions crossing Max's face. "Your son is going the same place as your fiancee. Can you save them and still have time to save yourself?" With those words, Tess disappeared.
Max turned around and look at his friends. "We have to find them. We have to find them soon." He gazed past them to the cave walls. "Give me some time alone, please?"
"I'll stand guard outside." said Michael. Everyone filed out of the cave.
Max sat in the center of the cave, unknowingly facing Liz's cell. "Where are you Liz? I can feel you all around me, but I don't know where you are. Help me, Liz! I love you..." Max dissolved into wracking sobs, weeping as he had the night he thought he was going to have to leave Liz forever, except now he cried for his son as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz sat helpless less than three feet away, silently crying out to Max. Suddenly she heard a small voice behind her.
"Will you be my mommy if you marry my daddy? I don't like my real mommy."
Liz whirled to see Max's son standing solemnly in the corner. Her heart crying, she reached out and pulled Zan close to her, hugging him tightly and kissing the top of his head.
"Of course I will, Zan. I'll love you more than she can, and I will be the best mommy you could have."
"If Daddy saves us."
"Your father will save us. I know he will."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isabel and Kyle left Maria and Michael sitting outside the cave and went back to town. Kyle drove them straight to his apartment without stopping to let Isabel off at her own. He ushered her into his small living room and sat her down on the couch.
"You want some hot chocolate, Izzy? I'll put tobasco sauce in it..." Isabel shook her head. "C'mon, Izzy. It'll make you feel better." She shook her head again. Kyle knelt down in front of her and held her shoulders. "Isabel, please. It would make me feel better if you had something hot to drink. Would you like some tea instead? It will help with the shock."
"Okay, Kyle." Isabel's voice was pitifully small, and she winced at how weak she sounded. Kyle left the room, heading for the kitchen to make Isabel's tea. Isabel gathered her strength. She knew she would need it if she wanted to dreamwalk Liz.
"Here's your tea, Izzy." Kyle sat down beside her on the couch and handed her a steaming mug.
"Thank you, Kyle."
"No problem." Kyle put his arm around her, and she settled against him. They sat in silence as Isabel drank her tea. When she finished she straightened.
"I should go home. I have to..."
"You'll stay here tonight."
"Kyle, I..."
"Isabel. I want to be there. I want to be there when you go to sleep and I want to be there when you wake up. I'm in this as much as you are. Don't try to talk me out of it."
Seeing the protective glint in Kyle's eyes, Isabel backed down. "Okay Kyle, I'll stay here tonight. I want to do it now."
Kyle stood and held out his hand. He pulled her to her feet and led her to his bedroom. She lay down on the bed and put her finger on the image of Liz in the group picture that sat on Kyle's bedside table.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz lay curled up in the corner of the cell in the cave. Zan was sleeping, his head resting on Liz's stomach, precisely where Max had healed her so many years ago. Liz knew she needed to get to sleep so that Isabel could dreamwalk her, but Max was still sitting in the cave, half-asleep. Liz's heart ached for him. She turned her head so that she was looking at the cave ceiling. She began to daydream about what she and Max would do when the whole thing was over with, and was soon asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isabel was having terrible trouble getting in. No matter how hard she tried, all she saw was the walls of the old granilith chamber.
"Liz!! Where are you?? Let me in, Liz!"
No matter how much she called out, all she saw were the cold walls of the cave.
Isabel woke, her palms damp from clenching them in her sleep. Kyle sat up the instant he felt her stir. She buried her face against his shoulder and started to sob. "I can't get in, Kyle! I can't get in!"
Kyle said nothing, but held Isabel tighter and began stroking her hair as she wept.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz awoke, knowing that Isabel had tried to get into her dream. In her dream, she had seen Isabel banging on the walls of Liz's prison, begging to get in. *I tried to let you in, Izzy.* Liz thought. Liz shifted, careful not to wake Zan. She settled him on the cave floor, his head pillowed by the jacket she had been wearing when Tess had captured her.
Liz looked out into the cave, and saw that Max was still sitting in the center of the cave, still half-asleep.
"There's got to be a way for me to contact him," she said softly, thinking aloud. "But Isabel couldn't get into my dream. How can I even try to contact Max?"
Liz got a flash of Ava years ago, telling her that she had been changed when Max healed her. Then she heard Isabel's voice. "I know my brother, and if there's one voice he'll hear, no matter where he is, no matter what he is doing, it's yours."
"But Isabel helped me then, and there wasn't an alien wall between us then, only a few thousand miles." Liz paced her cell, then looked at Max. He was looking straight at her, and if the "wall" wasn't between them they would have eye contact. She remembered during their high school graduation when Max had managed to form a connection between them just by looking in her eyes. They had passed the time during the salutatorian's speech by sharing memories. Liz knew they didn't really have eye contact no matter how much she looked in his eyes, but she figured she had to try.
"Max," she murmured, staring deeply into his eyes. "Max, I'm here. Max, let me in. Max...Max...Max..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Max was still sitting morosely in the cave, his gaze fixed on the corner where he and Liz always sat. He was puzzled, though, because the longer he looked at it, the more he felt something was wrong with it. It seemed...smaller somehow, although he had no idea how it could be. He shook the thought from his head and began to think of Liz again, searching his mind for places that she could be. Suddenly, Max heard a voice.
"Max...Max…Max...Max, I'm here...Max, let me in...Max.."
"Liz?"
The voice was coming from inside himself, though. He felt the tingly sensation that he always felt when he was just starting a connection with Liz. Completely confused but blindly trusting the sensation, he held onto the thin thread of that connection and started trying to strengthen it. The stronger it got, the stronger Liz's voice became.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz was still staring deep into Max's eyes when she bagan to see that he was hearing her. She could tell that he was trying to strengthen the connection even as she felt it because his eyes got wider and more concentrated.
"Liz? Liz I can feel you, but where are you?"
"Max!!! Max, I'm here."
"Where, Liz?"
"I'm here in the cave Max."
"I don't see you." But he believed she was there.
"Look harder, Max."
Max stared at their corner. He remembered thinking it looked smaller. The longer he stared the more Liz encouraged him. Suddenly, the walls of the cave began to fade.
"You're doing it, Max! You've almost got it!"
The walls cleared, and Max could see Liz standing two feet from him, tears streaming down her face. He looked past her for a moment and saw his son.
"Is that?"
"It's Zan, Max. Your son. Oh, Max, he's the sweetest little boy. Tess was so awful to him!"
"God, Liz. I'm so sorry."
"No, Max. This isn't your fault."
"Liz..."
"Max. No. Where are the others?" Liz felt a change of subject was in order.
Max was about to reply when the rest of the group walked into the cave.
"Max, I think you should go..." Isabel trailed off when she saw Liz and Zan.
Maria let out a shriek and ran towards Liz...and ran straight into the invisible wall. She stumbled backwards and Michael was behind her catching her fall in an instant. "What the hell?" he murmured.
"It's an invisible wall. Well, it was invisible on my side the whole time, but somehow you guys couldn't see through it."
"How did you make it see-through for us?" Kyle asked.
"I connected with Max. More of that I've been change by the healing stuff. I remembered what Isabel said when Max was in New York. I thought maybe I could make it work without her since he wasn't thousands of miles away."
Max looked at Liz with a mixture of love and pride. "And she did make it work. Now we just have to figure out how to get her and Zan out of there."
At that point, Tess entered the cave. "You won't be able to. I'm going to kill you first."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Max whirled to face Tess. Somehow, Liz managed to keep up the connection despite Max's inability to concentrate on it fully. Tess gave an odd little half-smile.
"I'm really here this time, Max. But you won't kill me. Not in front of our son. You're too honorable for that aren't you?"
Max grunted and stepped forward. "Don't hurt them. If you hurt Liz, if you hurt my son...I will kill even if you bring in the entire FBI to watch me do it!"
Liz watched silently. She sent Max all her love and all her faith through their connection. She watched as he stood up taller.
The rest of the group backed towards Liz. They huddled around the now invisible wall and began talking in hushed tones as Tess began to rant about how everything went wrong and how it was all Liz's fault. Knowing it would buy them precious time, Max let her scream. Michael took charge of the huddle.
"Liz, we have to get you and Zan out of that bubble of yours. Any idea how?"
"God, Michael, I don't know. Maybe if we..." Liz felt a small tug on her shirt. Zan stepped out from behind her.
"If you can all connect, you can break the walls with your minds." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Zan huddled back behind Liz again, clinging to her and feeling close to his father.
"Okay, Liz. You're already connected to Max," Maria mused. "Now how can we get the rest of us in on it as well?"
Isabel glanced at Kyle, then said, "I can connect with Liz and then bring the rest of us in." Michael looked at her, surprise evident on his face. "I asked Max how he did it. He explained it to me," Isabel explained.
"Are you sure you can do it?" Michael asked.
"I'm sure." Isabel turned to Liz. "Does Max know what we're doing?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Kyle, Maria, Michael, join hands with me. Here goes nothing."
Isabel focused on Liz's calm face. *How can she be calm?* wondered Isabel. She realized that Liz wasn't just her brother's strength, she was the strength of the whole group.
Suddenly Isabel, and everyone else, was in. They felt the power of the connection surging through them. Liz took control, Zan whispering words of encouragement behind her.
"Okay everybody," said Liz silently through the connection. "Focus on the molecules of the wall. Push them apart. Like when Max heals people, except we're dealing with an inanimate object." Liz pushed against the wall. It was getting soft. "That's it guys," she urged. "We're doing it!" Suddenly Liz's hand went through the wall, and then there was no more wall. It was completely gone.
Isabel, breathing hard, broke the connection. She collapsed against Kyle's chest, and he immediately brought his arms around her.
Tess immediately realized her wall had been broken. Her tirade ended abruptly.
"NO!!!! Dammit! You weren't supposed to break out of there!" All thoughts of Max gone from her head, Tess launched herself at Liz, who dodged the attack. Undaunted, Tess chased Liz out of the cave. Liz ran, not really paying attention to where she was going. She felt Max's panic through their still-unbroken connection and she realized where she was running.
She was running up.
Tess was screaming like a banshee as she chased Liz up the cliff. All to soon, Liz was high as she could go. She stood on a ledge. Far below she could see Maria ushering everyone but Max back into the cave. Liz was grateful Zan was going inside. No matter who died, Liz didn't want Zan to see it.
Tess reached the ledge. "I've got you now, Lizzy Parker. Little Lizzy Parker, you thought you could snag yourself an alien king? Now you won't have him!"
"If you kill me, he'll never be with you."
"I don't want him anymore, I have Kivar. The only thing I want from Max Evans is to watch him suffer. Your death should provide that almost as well as him dying without knowing where you are." With those words, Tess launched herself at Liz. She was too far into her rage to think of using her powers.
Liz clawed at Tess' hands as they closed around her neck. She felt her and Max's combined power racing through her body. "NO!!!" she screamed, and Tess was thrown against the cave wall.
"Well, look at you, the changed human. Your puny powers can't even stop me without my powers." Tess blindly charged at Liz. Following her instincts only, Liz jumped out of the way. Tess realized her mistake too late, and skidded off the ledge. Liz heard the sickening smack of Tess's body hitting the ground. Breathing heavily, Liz began to run down the slope towards her soulmate and fiancee.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By tacit agreement, no attempt was made to heal Tess. Her body was burned and her ashes dumped into one of the bottomless lakes. Liz insisted on saying a prayer for the woman Tess could have been if she had been raised differently. Her compassion made Max love her even more. The location of Tess' granilith was discovered, with help from Zan. They sent it back to Kivar, empty save for all of Tess' things from the motel.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Max and Liz were married one week after Tess' death. A week after that, with a little help from Isabel, they officially adopted a little boy named Alexander James. He chose to be called Alex, because he didn't want to be Zan anymore, and his parents told him that they used to know a man named Alex and that he was a good person. Kyle's father, who had gotten his job back as sheriff, doted on the boy who was partly named after him. On a triple date one night, Michael and Kyle proposed to Maria and Isabel. The two women of course said yes, and the debate began over who would get the girls' apartment. In the end, Liz, Max, and Alex moved in since Max was the only one who didn't have his own place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was after midnight, and Liz lay secure in Max's warm embrace in the loft bedroom. Alex was asleep downstairs, and the apartment was quiet. Bursting with happiness, and unable to keep the reason to herself anymore, she propped herself up on her elbow and looked at Max.
"I have some news for you."
"I could tell. You've been bursting from keeping it all day." Seeing Liz's face fall, Max quickly added, "But I have no idea what it is you want to tell me."
Brightening, Liz revealed her news. "I'm pregnant." She revelled in the emotions flickering across Max's face, and smiled broadly as he settled on joy.
"My God, Liz. That's...that's...I have no words...I'm so happy..."
Liz laughed and brought his hand to her stomach. "What does she want to be named?"
"How do you know it's a girl?"
"I know it." Laughing still, Liz leaned over and kissed Max. The father of her children, her husband, her lover, her soulmate. Her friend.
THE END
RATING: PG/PG-13, I guess
DISCLAIMER: The only thing I came up with here is the plot
SUMMARY: Max, Liz, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Kyle have all returned from college and, in Maria's case, LA. They are thrilled to be together again, but when someone out of the past returns, will this reunion be more than they had bargained for?
Liz paced on her balcony, giddy with nervous anticipation. Max was coming home today! She leaned over the wall, scanning the street below. In the five seconds since she had last checked, Max had not appeared. She sat down on her worn lawn chair and fingered the promise ring she had worn since the day Max slid it on her finger before leaving for college. Suddenly she stood up and began pacing again, absently fiddling with the pendant Max had given her the night before Tess had left.
Smiling at the memory of her and Max's celebratory make-out session, she checked the street again. Seeing no one but the neighbor's cat, she let her mind wander as she continued her pacing. She had returned from Harvard the same day a week ago as Maria had returned from California, fresh from a recording studio in L.A. Kyle was back and firmly established as a new deputy in the Roswell Sheriff's Department the next day. The day after Kyle's return, Isabel had come home and the tentative flirtation between her and the new deputy resumed. Three days after Maria returned to Roswell, Michael came home from the college he had worked hard to put himself through. Liz found herself smiling again as she remembered Michael and Maria's joyous reunion.
Still smiling, Liz leaned over the wall again.
"It's good to see your smile again, Liz." Max's voice came from directly below her. Startled, Liz let out a little shriek as she leaned over even further to see all of Max. "Don't lean over too far, Liz." Max's voice held amused concern. Smiling rakishly he added, "Healing you is not exactly what I want to do to you right now."
Regaining her composure, Liz scooted backwards while saying, "Then you'd better get up here, shouldn't you?" Max was already climbing the ladder. When he had climbed over the top of the wall, he smiled seductively as he drew Liz into his arms. "I wonder what it is you do want to do to me…" Liz's words were cut off as Max covered her mouth with his.
"I've missed you so much," Max murmured against Liz's lips.
"Missed you, too." Liz pulled back a fraction of an inch and said, "My parents are home…you should…umm…go say hello to them…"
Max gave another rakish grin. "In other words, we can't do anything until we can borrow Michael's apartment."
Liz smiled. "Yes Max. Sorry."
"Well then," Max gave Liz a quick kiss on the lips, "I guess we should go inside."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I can't believe we've all graduated from college already!" Isabel addressed the whole group.
"I know what you mean," Maria commented from her position nestled in Michael's arms. "Just five years ago we all thought that the only way the three of you could leave Roswell was on a spaceship bound for Antar!"
Michael tenderly kissed the top of Maria's head. "I'm glad things didn't turn out that way."
"So am I," Max added as he stroked Liz's hair. She was reclined in his arms much the way Maria was in Michael's. Isabel and Kyle looked at each other but said nothing.
Liz sighed and looked around the room the six of them were sitting in. "I'm glad we made this cave our special place." They were sitting in the chamber behind the aliens' old pods, where the granilith was until Tess took off in it. The chamber was stable despite the violent way the granilith had taken off, and after the take-off it had natural lighting from a convenient skylight.
"It's where the truth came out and where we chose our destinies," Max replied. "What else could we make it?"
Kyle tore his gave from Isabel and said, "I'm still feeling guilty that I didn't remember about Alex's murder sooner. I'm sorry, Max. I should have remembered!"
Before Max could reassure Kyle, Isabel jumped to his defense. "Kyle, Tess mind-warped you! It's not your fault you couldn't remember! The important thing is you remembered in the end."
"Exactly," Max added.
Michael shifted uncomfortably and said, "I've always felt a little guilty that I couldn't see what was going on with Tess. Not only am I your second- in-command, you're like a brother to me. I should have been looking out for you…I should have known somehow."
Maria twisted around to look at Michael's face. "I swear, sometimes you are so dense, Spaceboy! She had us all fooled! I'm sorry I didn't back up Liz right away. Maybe if I had been there helping her we could have figured it out quicker…"
"We wouldn't have found out the truth any sooner, Maria," Liz reassured her friend. "The mind-warps had to wear off."
Max appeared to be in deep thought. Then he looked up and said, "I want to try something. You know how we can connect with each other…like when I healed Liz? Well I think I could form a connection between all of us. I think it might help us feel better."
Liz looked around at her friends' worried and guilty faces. "Okay Max, what do we do?"
"Let's all hold hands." Max grabbed Liz and Maria's hands; Michael took Maria and Isabel's; and Kyle joined hands with Isabel and Liz. "Now empty your minds of everything except the six of us," Max instructed. Then he formed the connection between them all.
It was like nothing any of them had ever experienced. They felt each other's love and respect. They saw that none of them blamed anyone but themselves for the Tess scandal going so far. Images of their favorite moments flashed through their minds. Scenes of parties at the Crashdown, their Senior (not Junior) Prom, their other cave meetings, and their high school graduation. They could see each other's auras, and the colors made a beautiful rainbow around them.
Max broke the connection. Kyle looked around at the five people he was closest to in the entire world, heck…the entire universe, and broke the awed silence. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm feeling better."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"That was a wonderful thing you did for us, Max." Liz said it without gushing, sounding only as though stating a simple fact.
"Thank you, Liz. I just wanted us to all feel better…to stop feeling guilty about Alex." Max and Liz were standing at one of their favorite spots, a small, remote plateau overlooking one of the bottomless lakes. "It's been a long day. We were all tired from all this reunion stuff, and there were memories of Alex and feelings surrounding his death we just hadn't dealt with. I just wanted to ease our pain."
"You did, Max. I'm so glad you're back. I've missed you so much." Max held out his arm, and Liz settled against his side. "You're my rock, Max. Without you…I'm lost."
Max looked down at Liz and then stared pensively off into space, his gave focusing on the v-shaped constellation that marked his planet. "You're more than my rock…Liz, you're my soul. Without you I'm nothing. We're one, Liz. I don't think I really could have left you that day. Especially after Michael decided to stay…if I had left, I would have died before Tess had the chance to hand me over to Kivar. I love you, Liz, and I could never live without you."
Liz had tears in her eyes as she felt waves of love from Max; both through his words and through the low-level connection that always formed when they touched. She turned in Max's arms so that she was facing him and held his face in her hands. She pulled his head down and kissed him softly, pouring all the feelings she had inside her for him into the kiss. Max returned all the feelings they couldn't name as he drew her closer to him while deepening the kiss and lowering them down to the blanket they had set out. Only the stars in the sky and those reflected in the lake below them watched the reunited lovers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isabel felt a surge of pride as she sat in her office in downtown Roswell. She was just starting her job as a social worker. As she leaned back in her chair, she remembered when Special Agent Topolsky's career placement tests had suggested the field of social work despite the fact that Isabel had been convinced she wanted to be an actress or a supermodel.
Letting her mind wander, Isabel stared out her window. A police car drove by, and her thoughts wandered to Kyle. She used to think of him as a sort of brother, but over the last year or two, something more had begun to develop between them. She couldn't put her finger on what she felt, but she wanted to spend more time with Kyle. Briefly she wondered if he would be a good kisser. Suddenly she thought of Alex and felt a pang of guilt mixed with residual pain over his death. She shoved thoughts of Kyle aside, turned away from the window, and resolutely began her work for the day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I can't thank you two enough for taking these jobs while we find someone else to do them." Jeff Parker smiled at Michael and Maria. "We were having big problems being short a cook and a waitress!"
"It's no problem, Mr. Parker." Michael responded. "I don't have a job in Roswell yet anyway."
"And I get bored with nothing to do all day." Maria added.
"Well thanks anyway. You guys can have your old lockers in the back…Maria I think all your pictures are still in yours!" Jeff said in an amused tone. "We don't need either of you right now…you can both come in this afternoon and do the dinner shift, though if you don't mind."
"That'd be fine, Mr. Parker." said Michael. "We'll be here."
"Why don't we stay here and grab some lunch?" suggested Maria, once Jeff had gone back to his office.
"Okay."
Michael and Maria sat down at their old booth in the back of the restaurant. They both ordered burgers and cokes.
"It's so nice to be back in good old Roswell, New Mexico." Maria commented. "I thought I'd love L.A. so much that I wouldn't want to come back, but I really didn't. L.A.'s fine, but Roswell's home." Maria flashed a bright smile at Michael. "Plus you're not there…anywhere you are is home."
"I learned a long time ago that anywhere you are is home for me. If you want to live in L.A., we could do that. I wouldn't mind. I think I'm going to write for a living…I can do that anywhere."
"My Michael, the English major…who would have ever thought? No, I think I want to live here as much as possible. What will you write about?"
"Aliens," Michael said with a smile. "Aliens who crash-landed in 1947 and then insinuated themselves into human society. Fiction, of course…"
Maria laughed. "Really? That would be extremely amusing."
"Well I was thinking either that or murder mysteries."
"You could write anything, I think."
"My Maria, ever loyal and supportive. Except when I really piss you off…"
"Which you manage to do a lot!"
"No comment," Michael stated just as their burgers arrived. They dug into their burgers and continued talking and laughing. Maria, who was facing the door, glanced over at it when she heard the bell tinkle.
"Oh my God!" she breathed.
"What?" asked Michael in a hushed voice, clearly alarmed.
Maria could only point surreptitiously at the woman who had just walked into The Crashdown. She was a short, blonde woman who looked to be about their age. She held the hand of a young boy who looked to be about five years old. He had dark hair and dark eyes. "Mommy, I want to sit on the stools!" he said in a loud voice that vaguely reminded Michael of someone else…The woman turned suddenly and saw Michael and Maria staring at her. A frightened look crept into her eyes and she grabbed the little boy and practically ran out of the café.
"Michael…" Maria said dazedly. "Michael…I think that was Tess!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you sure, Maria? Are you really sure?"
"Liz, I wouldn't be more sure if the little hussy had come up and said, 'Hey guys, it's Tess - remember me?'" Maria leaned back against Michael after breaking the news to the rest of the group in their cave.
"My God, I thought she was gone...I thought we didn't need to worry about her anymore..." Isabel snuggled closer into Kyle's comforting embrace.
Kyle began to softly stroke Isabel's hair. "Don't worry Izzy...I won't let her hurt you...or any of us."
Suddenly Michael stood up and began to pace. "If we hadn't have been in plain sight at the Crashdown, we would be discussing where to hide her body and how to explain Maxwell's sudden aquisition of a five-year-old child!" Maria reached up to take Michael's hand as he passed. Soothed, he sat down beside her once again.
"Whatever the exact reason she's come here, we can bet that I'm the target." Max spoke for the first time since Maria dropped her bombshell. "It's getting late. We should head back to town now. How about dinner for six at the Crashdown? Maybe she'll show up again...or someone will have seen her."
Maria, Michael, Isabel, and Kyle filed out of the cave. Liz waited until they were outside then turned to Max. "I'm here for you, Max. No matter what happens...no matter what she says. I'll always be here."
"I know, Liz. I couldn't handle any of it if you weren't."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh yeah, there was a girl like that in here about thirty minutes ago." Liz and Maria were talking to a waitress at the Crashdown. "Her little boy looked to be about five, and I think she called him Zan. Odd name if you ask me...must be short for something...anyway, they came in and sat in that booth back there," she indicated the booth the group always sat in, "and ordered two burgers and two shakes. They ate and then left."
"Did you notice if they did anything odd?" Maria probed.
"Not really...well I did notice that the bottle of tobasco sauce, which I KNOW I just replaced before they walked in, was more than half gone when they left." The waitress looked at her watch. "Listen, I get off in five and I still have to refill the sugars."
"Liz...tobasco sauce...Zan? It's her, Liz...it's gotta be her."
"I know Maria. Let's tell the others."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Zan, huh? Well at least he isn't Max Jr...I think that would take a bit too much explaining away." Michael took small comfort from this detail.
"We don't even know what explaining we will have to do, Michael." Max, still subdued, had everyone's attention nonetheless. A true leader, the rest of the group no longer resented deferring to him occasionally. "I think we should be careful. Any active searching should be done with extreme caution. Right now we have the upper hand...she's lost the element of surprise and she knows it. We should stick together, too...as much as possible. We don't want to be caught alone. Kyle and Izzy, you two stay together as much as possible. Michael, stay with Maria...I'm sure that's not a problem. I'll stay with Liz."
"That's all well and good Max, but what do we do when she confronts us...she's bound to soon." Kyle glanced worriedly at Isabel, who was sitting across from him and next to her brother. Isabel smiled weakly at Kyle, and reached out to take his hand over the table.
"We can't know that yet, Kyle." Max replied. "We don't know what she wants yet."
"Maxwell, I need to get out there and do something. Look for her, do alien research...anything." Michael squeezed Maria's hand and looked across the table at Max with a pleading look in his eyes.
Max hesitated, and Liz broke in. "Michael, be careful. Don't do anything stupid. Maybe you can check out the cave? My guess is she would want to go there, at least to see it...after all, it is the last place on Earth that she was before." Liz looked to Max for confirmation, and at his nod she gave a small smile.
"Good idea, Liz." Max went into King mode again. "You and Maria head out to the cave. Isabel and Kyle can check out the motels. Liz and I will watch our houses."
"Yes sir, Fearless Leader, sir!" Isabel gave a snappy salute and then added, "Max...we'll get through this...all of us together...we'll make it."
"I know."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So you saw the second-in-command and his human?"
Tess looked at the face on the screen of what appeared to be a laptop computer. "Yes Kivar."
"Did they see you?"
"...yes..."
"Did they recognize you?"
"I...I think so...but I didn't stay long enough to find out."
"I knew I shouldn't have sent you and that royal brat to do what I should be doing myself. You've lost the element of surprise...they are probably looking for you right now. They'll kill you if they get the chance darling...and you know what? I can't help you. There is no one else I can send. So you are on your own, kiddo. You and that brat."
"Kivar...I promise I will succeed this time. I won't fail you again."
"Keep your promise, Tess. Maybe then I'll let you back into my...favor. You would like that, wouldn't you, darling?"
Stubbornly ignoring the sarcasm, Tess beamed at Kivar's image. "I would, Kivar. I...I miss you. I will not fail you. Max won't know what hit him. I'll use all the leverage I've got...up to and including little Zan...if you're sure you have no more use for him?"
"Do what you must...just destroy the rest of the royal four."
"I will, Kivar. I swear it." Closing the laptop communicator, Tess glanced over at her son. Zan...the little boy she could have raised on Earth with Max...the little boy she'd handed over to nannies as soon as he was born...the son she didn't really know, and didn't really love. She shifted her gaze to the window of her small motel room. Just before she looked away again to get Zan ready for bed, she saw a police cruiser pull into the lot. Thinking nothing of it, she turned away, leaving the window wide open.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kyle and Isabel pulled into the parking lot of the Crash Here Motel. "This is the last one, Kyle. She must be here."
"I suppose so, Izzy. You wanna get out and ask, or should I?"
"I'll do it...you did the last one." Isabel stayed in her seat for a moment, then grabbed Kyle's hand and squeezed it, seeing the worry etched into his features. "I'll be fine. Remember, I used to want to be an actress." With that she got out of the car and strode confidently into the motel.
"Welcome to the Crash Here Motel," said a bored-looking desk clerk. "Can I help you?"
Isabel affected a southern belle accent and shrugged her shoulders so that the neckline of her tank top fell a half inch or so. "I certainly hope so, honey! You see I was sittin' in that cute little cafe a few blocks away...let's see, I think it's called the Crashdown? Anyway, I was sittin' there in a booth with my dear friend Mary-Jo...she's out in the car...and this woman who seemed to be a tourist as well brushed past us with the cutest darn little boy you ever did see. Well, what happens when she goes by but a wad of dollar bills drops out of her purse!" Isabel leaned over the desk as if to get closer so the clerk could hear her better. His gaze dropped from her eyes for a moment before coming back up. "Well Mary-Jo says to me that I had better run after her. I certainly tried but she was halfway down the street and that cute little boy was sayin' something about going back to their motel. So I was wondering if you had any guests that looked like her. She was short and blonde...curly hair. The little boy was dark. Dark hair, dark eyes, very cute. You seen them? I would love to give her back her money!"
The clerk blinked as Isabel stood up. Dazed from the fast speech and interesting view, he forgot to be careful about disclosing information. "I...I think so ma'am. If I recall she registered as a Miss Eva Tess Harding. Would you like her room number?" Without waiting for an answer he added, "Miss Harding is in room 214."
Isabel was shocked at the ease with which she had obtained the information, Blinking, she gathered her wits and replied, "Well of course! Thank you very very much honey! I'll just carry this money up there right now, then!" Isabel hurried up the stairs, waited long enough so that it would seem she had indeed talked to "Eva," then returned downstairs. Flashing the desk clerk a blinding smile she breezed by him saying, "Thank you ever so much! She was so pleased! She says thank you to you as well! Bye now!"
Kyle breathed a sigh of relief when Isabel reappeared. He'd seen Tess through the open window and was nervous for Isabel's safety.
"She's in room 214, Kyle. We've got her! We should figure out which window that is..."
"We have. It's that one, there." Just then Tess reappeared in the window. "Uh-oh, time to go." With that Kyle shifted the car into gear and drove off into the night. "Well we'll at least have something to report at breakfast tomorrow."
Isabel looked over at Kyle. "Yes we will."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay guys, I've got our pancakes, Maria's got our drinks, and Izzy's got some tobasco sauce. Let's eat!" Liz spoke with slightly forced cheerfulness as she sat down at the group's booth after setting the tray she'd carried the food in on aside. Max put his arm around her as she sat down.
The group dug in to their breakfast, the three aliens pouring tobasco on along with the maple syrup. Kyle and Liz both stole sneaky bites from Isabel and Max's plates. When they were about halfway through their food, Max finally spoke up, steering the conversation to the real reason they had gathered at the Crashdown for a group breakfast.
"Okay. Liz and I didn't see anyone, or anything, suspicious at any of our houses last night. We even swung by Alex's and Tess's old houses. Nothing. Michael? Maria? Did you guys find anything?"
"Nope." said Michael sullenly. "We stayed out there all night too." He couldn't quite hide a cocky grin.
"Oh yeah, Liz, if my mom asks, I was at your house last night okay?"
"Sure, Maria." Liz stifled a laugh.
"Izzy? Kyle?" Max turned to his sister and noticed that she was holding hands with Kyle across the table.
"Actually, Max," Isabel began with a triumphant smile, "We found Tess. Well, we found a "Miss Eva Tess Harding" who had with her a little boy with dark hair and dark eyes."
"Yeah, Max. Isabel would make a great undercover cop. Wish we had her in the sheriff's department!" Kyle squeezed Isabel's hand and gave her a big smile. "Anyway," Kyle added, looking at Max, "She's staying in room 214 at the Crash Here Motel."
"That's great, you guys!" Maria sat up straighter. "Now that we know where she sleeps it could make things much easier!"
Michael pulled her closer to his side. "We still have to figure out what we are going to do with her."
The group was silent for a few minutes. Everyone picked at what was left of their food, deep in thought. Finally Isabel broke the silence. "Obviously we aren't going to think of something this morning. I need to get to work, and I'm sure at least Kyle does as well." The rest of the group agreed, and they all left the café.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz and Max went to Liz's house and climbed up to her balcony. Liz sat on her lawn chair, and Max sat on the wall.
"So Liz, what are you going to do with that molecular biology degree here in Roswell?"
"I don't know. I haven't made any decisions yet." She didn't say it, but they both understood that it all depended on Max.
"You should, Liz. I don't want to hold you back. I'm just gonna sit here in Roswell, teaching history and coaching the wrestling team. We both know that."
"Max...about five and a half years ago, you said you didn't want me to wake up in five years and realize I hadn't done anything, that I was wasting my life on you. I haven't. Every morning when I wake I up I thank God that I met you, that you saved my life that day, and that you told me your secret and let me in. I don't regret knowing you, Max Evans...and I could never, ever regret loving you, giving my life to you. It's all I can do, Max. Without you, my life is empty. Don't make me leave you, Max, especially not now. She almost destroyed us once...I'm not going to let her do it now."
"Liz...I...I love you, Liz. I can't believe how lucky I am that you love me too. That you would sacrifice so much for me. Liz, I want to spend the rest of my life with you...will you promise me that when this is over and I buy you a ring...you'll accept it?"
Liz stood up and walked over to the wall. Taking Max's face between her hands, she placed a soft kiss on his lips. "As if there was ever any doubt." She drew him through her window and into her room, then reached over to her door and locked it, then pulled Max down to her bed. "I love you, Max."
"I love you too, Liz."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Zan! You stay right here while Mommy is in the cave! Don't move, or I'll tell Kivar you are being bad!"
"Where's Nanny Beth? I wanna see Nanny Beth!"
"I told you Zan, you aren't going to see your nanny ever again. Now be quiet and stay here!"
"Yes, Mommy."
Tess ducked through the entrance and found herself in the pod chamber. Someone had blown an archway into the rock so people didn't have to crawl through the pods to get to the large room behind them. She walked into what had been the granilith chamber and sighed. 'This was where everything fell apart,' she thought. 'God...if only that meddling #### Liz hadn't have figured everything out!' Tess began to pace agitatedly. Taking in the little details that showed that the group now used the cave as a meeting place, she walked over to the niche in the wall where the few alien artifacts the group possesed were kept. She took out the alien book, and began to page through it's familiar pages. She let out a cry of alarm and nearly dropped the book when she turned to the page that had illustrated their destinies. Her picture had been erased, and in its place whoever had erased it had pasted in a picture of Liz. "God dammit!" she yelled. Angrily, she ripped put Liz's picture and tore it up into small pieces which she then spread over the floor. She then slammed the book down on the floor and stormed out of the cave.
"Mommy! Are we going back to the motel now? Can I see Nanny Beth?"
"NO!" Trying to calm herself Tess muttered under her breath, "They may be able to defy them, but they can't change their destinies...I'll teach them a lesson about trying, though..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Everybody's here, right?" asked Max. At Liz's nod, he placed his palm against the rock and opened the cave. Michael went in first to make sure Tess wasn't there. After a few moments of tense silence, Max called out, "Michael? Is everything okay?"
Michael emerged from the old granilith chamber and looked out at Max. "She's been here."
Worried frowns creasing their brows, the rest of the group filed into the cave, Max and Liz entering last. At the sight of Tess' mess, Liz's mouth dropped open. "Max..."
"Obviously Tess wasn't pleased with our little slap in the face of destiny." commented Michael.
"It's a good thing we haven't finished the job yet, or she might have gone really crazy." said Maria, referring to their little project of rewriting the alien book. They were going to wipe off Isabel's face and put Maria's picture in.
Isabel got down on her knees to clean up the mess. Gathering the bits of paper, she handed them up to Max, who repaired the picture with his powers. He handed the picture back down to her and she fused it back into the book saying, "Maybe it's good that we have her mad. People don't think as clearly when they are angry. Maybe this will bring her out in the open."
Kyle reached down and pulled Isabel to her feet and to his side. "Then we should all be more careful. I'll keep an eye out for her while I'm on patrol."
"We should all stick together at night. Everybody move in to my apartment." Michael gave everyone a look that practically dared them to challenge him. Maria did.
"Sure, Spaceboy, and advertise the fact that something is up? We're too old for sleepovers. Those of us who are still staying with our parents because we don't have apartments yet will have a hard time thinking up excuses. We should just go about our business the same as always except be on our guard."
"Exactly," Liz chimed in. "We don't want her to think we are scared of her. We can't let her intimidate us."
"Liz and Maria are right." Max reached out and put a hand on Michael's shoulder. "I know you are concerned for everyone's safety, and so am I. But we can't let Tess dictate how we live our lives." Max dropped his hand and turned so he faced the whole group. "We almost let that happen five years ago, we can't let it happen now. Eveyone go home. Watch your backs, but don't be paranoid. We'll meet here again tomorrow after dinner." He took Liz's hand and walked out of the cave. Isabel followed him, and Kyle gave Michael a sympathetic look before turning to follow Isabel.
Maria wrapped her arms around Michael's waist. "Thank you for worrying about me, Michael. But I'll be fine. Tomorrow you stay home and work on your book. I'll come and see you in the morning, but I'm meeting Liz and Isabel for lunch. Okay?"
"I love you, Maria. Don't do anything stupid."
Maria laughed and gave him a quick kiss. "I promise. Now take me home, Spaceboy."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So then after I told the producer to 'f' off, he looked me straight in the eye and said 'You're hired.' I couldn't believe it! God, if I'd only know that was all I had to do to get somebody to listen to me sing I'd have been rich in a week!" Maria laughed as she talked to Isabel and Liz. They were sitting in the group booth at the Crashdown having lunch.
Isabel took a sip of her soda. "That's awesome, Maria. Anyway, I was thinking. We can't live with our parents forever, but I don't really want to rent an apartment by myself. So I was wondering if you girls would want to chip in and rent one with me."
Liz looked surprised. "You mean like, be roommates?"
"Yeah. I know I didn't really warm up to you guys for a while, but now you two are...well you're like surrogate sisters. After all, you're dating my brothers. Well my brother and my almost-brother. That makes us sisters. So please, will you?"
Maria looked at Liz, who gave an slight nod. "We'd love to, Izzy," she said decisively.
Isabel beamed. "Great. Now let's finish lunch and go apartment hunting before I have to get back to work!" The three women hurriedly finished their burgers and left the Crashdown.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TWO WEEKS LATER...
Tess paced in her motel room, deep in thought. Zan sat docily on the bed playing with a new GameBoy his mother had bought him to keep him quiet. In the two weeks since they had arrived in Roswell, Zan had learned that his mother would rather not have him underfoot and that the best thing for him to do was to follow her when she wanted him to or stay put when she didn't. He looked up from his game as his mother's laptop began to make beeping noises and a small light in the right-hand corner began to flash. Tess hurried over to it and Zan returned his attention to the game.
Kivar's slightly annoyed face filled the screen when Tess opened the laptop, and his voice evidenced his frustration more clearly than his face.
"You sent a message, Tess. What do you want?"
"I have plan, Kivar."
Kivar's annoyance faded, and he leaned forward. "What it it?"
"I'll need some extra supplies..."
"You have them. Now what's the plan?"
"Well..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Maria!" Isabel shouted impatiently. "For God's sake, it's just the guys, the place doesn't have to be perfect for them!" Liz smiled at Isabel sympathetically and rolled her eyes.
"I want the place to look nice!" Maria protested as she walked into the living room from her bedroom. "Anyway, I'm ready now." She walked over to the door and opened it. "Okay boys, come on in!"
The guys walked into the apartment and paired off with one of the girls for a grand tour. The apartment consisted of a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms on the main floor, and a loft. Maria and Liz had the downstairs rooms, and Isabel had the loft. After all the guys had seen the apartment, the group gathered in the living room again. The conversation soon turned to Tess, and her lack of activity.
"Maybe she's gone." Isabel's voice held a combination of hope, doubt, and a tinge of fear.
"I don't think so." Max didn't like saying it, but he felt it was the truth. "I think she's planning something."
"I think she's trying to regain the element of surprise she lost when Maria and I saw her in the Crashdown." Michael pulled Maria closer to his side. "We should be even more careful now than before."
Suddenly Liz stood up. "Max and I have a date tonight. I don't want to think about Tess right now. I'm gonna get ready. Wait for me, Max." With that, she hurried out of the room.
The group looked to Maria for an explanation. "I don't know guys..." she protested. "She's probably just tired of it all."
Max looked guilty for a moment, but smiled when Liz came out of her room dressed to kill in a lovely little black dress. He took her arm and they left, smiling in goodbye as they left.
Michael and Maria left as well because they were going to work the dinner shift at the Crashdown. Isabel and Kyle were left sitting on the couch alone in the apartment.
"I guess we're the only ones without plans tonight," said Kyle.
"Yeah...you, uh, wanna hang out here?"
"I don't know..."
"Please Kyle...I don't...I don't want to be alone right now."
Kyle turned so that he and Isabel were face to face. "Okay."
"Thank you." Kyle leaned closer.
"Your welcome." Isabel knew he was going to kiss her.
"Kyle..."
"Shh..." He placed a tender kiss on her lips. Frozen, she tried to picture Alex's face clearly. All she got was the sense that he wanted her to move on. Giving in to the moment she returned Kyle's kiss.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz and Max sat at a small, secluded table in a little Italian restaurant that they both loved. They were just finishing their deserts when Max spoke up.
"I know I said I wouldn't buy you a ring until this business with Tess is over, but I couldn't wait. I bought one anyway." Max reached into an inside pocket in his blazer and pulled out a small velvet box. Liz let out a small gasp.
Opening the box, she let out a louder gasp when she saw the beautiful ring Max had bought her. It wasn't a typical diamond solitaire, but a princess cut ruby encircled by tiny ice blue sapphires.
"I figured since everything about our relationship is out of the ordinary, an ordinary engagement ring would be out of the question. The ruby is for my heart, because it's been yours since the first day I saw you. It's princess cut because no matter what anyone says about my destiny, you'll always be my queen. The sapphires are for my soul, it's been yours since the day I healed you in the Crashdown. I love you Liz Parker, and I want the world to know it. So will you wear my ring?"
Liz looked at Max with tears in her eyes. "Of course I will, Max. Umm, can we leave now?"
"Where did you want to go?" asked Max playfully, catching the gleam in Liz's eyes.
"I was thinking maybe the overlook by the lake?"
Max grinned rakishly. "Sounds like a plan to me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day Liz was walking down the street towards West Roswell High. After she crept into the apartment around three in the morning she'd done a lot of thinking. She'd realized that she didn't want to be the head of molecular biology research at Harvard anymore. She wanted to teach biology and sponsor the Science Club and see Max every day at work. *Maybe we could use the Eraser Room* she thought. Smiling at the thought, she turned a corner.
And ran smack into Tess.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So, Max. I didn't get a chance to talk to Liz this morning 'cuz I was in a hurry, but I noticed an awful nice ring on her finger...that wouldn't happen to have anything to do with you, would it?" Isabel smiled expectantly at her brother across her desk.
"It might."
"Oh? Tell me about it."
"We're getting married."
"When?" Isabel's expression didn't change except for her smile getting a bit bigger.
"What, no surprise?"
"Max, please. I've known you and Liz would end up married since ages ago. It was so obvious...what else could you guys do?"
"I guess. Listen, let's all meet at the Crashdown for dinner tonight so Liz and I can make a formal announcement. How's that sound to you?"
"Sounds great. No go away. I have work to do."
"I was thinking that maybe I'd hang around for a while..."
"Max, I appreciate your concern, but-"
"I'm keeping an eye on her Max, don't worry." Max turned to see Kyle standing in the doorway. He turned back to see Isabel's cheeks going pink.
"Uh-huh. Okay. I'll leave you to...keep on an eye on her by yourself, then." He winked at Kyle and then said to Izzy, "Have fun."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everyone except Liz and Max had arrived at the Crashdown. Max walked in to find the other four sitting at the booth already. The booth next to them was occupied by a small woman in a jacket with a hood that was pulled down in front of her face. Taking no notice of the woman, he slid into the booth saying,
"Where's Liz?"
"Max, what do you mean?" Maria looked worried.
Michael tensed. "We thought she was with you, Maxwell."
"Well she's not."
Isabel, squashing rising panic, said, "Well I haven't seen her since this morning so she didn't get the message to meet here if you haven't seen her, Max." At Max's negative response, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed the girls' apartment. She was silent for a minute or so. "She's not answering the phone."
"That's because she's not in the apartment, Isabel." The woman in the next booth took off the hood, revealing that she was in fact, Tess. "She's not in the apartment because she is...somewhere else."
Max jumped up from the booth to confront Tess only to find that she had disappeared, leaving only an empty bottle of tobasco sauce to suggest she had even been there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz awoke with a terrible crick in her neck. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Instead of seeing her bedroom walls as she expected she saw the cold stone wall of the old granilith chamber, about an inch and a half from her face. She gasped, frozen with shock.
"I trust you had a nice nap, Liz darling?" Tess' voice held blatant hatred. At the sound of it, Liz quickly sat up and turned towards her.
"You know they'll come here first," she began.
"That they will, but they won't be able to see you."
"Wha...what do you mean by that?" Tess chuckled softly, menacingly.
"They won't be able to see you, Liz. To them, it will appear that there is no one in the room. You however, will be able to see them. You will be able to see their worried faces, and you will be able to see their destruction. Revenge is sweet, Lizzy-dear. You would have done well to remember that, you and "King" Max."
"You can't keep a mind-warp on all of them long enough."
"It's not a mind-warp, Liz. I'm smarter than that, stronger than that now. I have all the alien technology I need at my disposal, thanks to Kivar. You all should have thought of that as well." Liz was silent. "I'll be leaving you now, Liz. Your friends should be arriving soon." Tess turned to leave. "Oh and by the way, I'll be sending you some company soon." With that cryptic remark, she strode out of the cave.
Liz, still partly in shock, stayed on the floor of the cave for another minute or so. Finally, she stood up and and started to walk. She hadn't gone two full paces when she came up against an invisible wall. With a cry of dismay, she followed the invisible wall around and determined the size of her cage. "It's too small," she said to no one in particular. "They won't notice the space is gone." Fighting rising panic, Liz retreated to the corner of her cell and sat down to think.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay. I'm going to open the cave. Michael, you go in and check things out for us. If Tess is in there, try not to let her see you. Don't play the hero. You got it?"
"Sure, Max. I've got it." Seeing the hint of wildness entering Max's eyes, Michael took hold of him by the shoulders. "I wouldn't risk Maria's life, I won't risk Liz's. We're going to get her back, Maxwell."
Max's shoulders lost a fraction of their tension and the wildness began to clear. "Thanks, man. I needed that. Now go in there. Maria, Izzy, Kyle and I will wait for you to come back with the all-clear."
Michael nodded. Max opened the cave, and Michael ducked in. A minute or so later he stuck his head out and motioned the others to come in.
They did, and they sat huddled closer together than normal, as if they feared one of them might disappear as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As soon as she saw Michael enter the cave Liz jumped to her feet. When the rest of the group came in, she began screaming. Although they all scanned the room nervously, their eyes passed right over Liz without seeing her. Liz banged on the invisible wall, but even she couldn't hear that noise. Regaining her control, Liz quieted and realized she could hear what the group was saying. Worrying her engagement ring and staring at Max, she sat down and settled in to listen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"If I were a jealously crazed evil alien, where would I hide the object of my obsession's fiancee?" Maria's attempt at humor brought half-hearted smiles to everyone's faces, but did nothing to lift their spirits.
Max stared at the floor. "I was so sure she'd be here. I had this feeling...I was sure..."
In her cage, Liz thought *I am here, Max...you're right, I'm here!*
Max looked up at the group. "I still can't shake the feeling. That kills me. She's obviously not here, but I still feel sure she is."
"Maybe there's a reason, Maxwell. Maybe Tess..."
"Maybe Tess is screwing with our minds again." interjected Maria.
Isabel reached out and touched Max's arm. "I'll try and contact her in her dreams, tonight. She won't be sleeping now, though...or I wouldn't be if I were her..." As Isabel trailed off, Kyle hugged her closer to him and kissed the top of her head, inhaling the scent of her hair.
The group sat in a tense silence. The looks on all of their faces were mixes of fear, sadness, and anger. Max's eyes still held that vague hint of wildness.
Inside her cage, Liz felt her heart break for Max when she finally got a good look in his eyes. She almost felt him make eye contact, but then she realized he was looking through her. Liz couldn't help but let out a cry of pure, unadulterated fear when she saw Tess enter the cave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Aren't you a happy crowd?" Tess commented in a voice filled with mocking sarcasm.
The warrior light in his eyes again, Max jumped up from the floor and extended his had towards Tess. The blast of energy he released went right through her.
At the group's surprised gasps, Tess let out a harsh laugh. "Isn't alien technology wonderful, Max? I just wanted to say hello. And I wanted to introduce you to someone."
Max made no move, save for a muscle in his jaw clenching and unclenching. The image of Tess faded for a moment, then came back strong, and this time with her was a little boy. He bore a striking resemblance to Max.
"Max, I'd like you to meet Zan. He's your son. Isn't he cute? Say hi to your daddy, Zan."
The little boy gazed solemnly out at the group. He shrank away from his mother's angry gestures and looked pleadingly at Max. "Hello, Daddy."
Max's heart, had it not broken at that moment, would have broken at the words he heard in his head next, in the same small, scared voice. *Help me, Daddy! I love you!*
Liz heard the words as well, her heart was so connected to Max's. She began to softly cry, and immediatly she loved this child...Max's son.
Tess, however, did not hear the words. She did, however she the emotions crossing Max's face. "Your son is going the same place as your fiancee. Can you save them and still have time to save yourself?" With those words, Tess disappeared.
Max turned around and look at his friends. "We have to find them. We have to find them soon." He gazed past them to the cave walls. "Give me some time alone, please?"
"I'll stand guard outside." said Michael. Everyone filed out of the cave.
Max sat in the center of the cave, unknowingly facing Liz's cell. "Where are you Liz? I can feel you all around me, but I don't know where you are. Help me, Liz! I love you..." Max dissolved into wracking sobs, weeping as he had the night he thought he was going to have to leave Liz forever, except now he cried for his son as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz sat helpless less than three feet away, silently crying out to Max. Suddenly she heard a small voice behind her.
"Will you be my mommy if you marry my daddy? I don't like my real mommy."
Liz whirled to see Max's son standing solemnly in the corner. Her heart crying, she reached out and pulled Zan close to her, hugging him tightly and kissing the top of his head.
"Of course I will, Zan. I'll love you more than she can, and I will be the best mommy you could have."
"If Daddy saves us."
"Your father will save us. I know he will."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isabel and Kyle left Maria and Michael sitting outside the cave and went back to town. Kyle drove them straight to his apartment without stopping to let Isabel off at her own. He ushered her into his small living room and sat her down on the couch.
"You want some hot chocolate, Izzy? I'll put tobasco sauce in it..." Isabel shook her head. "C'mon, Izzy. It'll make you feel better." She shook her head again. Kyle knelt down in front of her and held her shoulders. "Isabel, please. It would make me feel better if you had something hot to drink. Would you like some tea instead? It will help with the shock."
"Okay, Kyle." Isabel's voice was pitifully small, and she winced at how weak she sounded. Kyle left the room, heading for the kitchen to make Isabel's tea. Isabel gathered her strength. She knew she would need it if she wanted to dreamwalk Liz.
"Here's your tea, Izzy." Kyle sat down beside her on the couch and handed her a steaming mug.
"Thank you, Kyle."
"No problem." Kyle put his arm around her, and she settled against him. They sat in silence as Isabel drank her tea. When she finished she straightened.
"I should go home. I have to..."
"You'll stay here tonight."
"Kyle, I..."
"Isabel. I want to be there. I want to be there when you go to sleep and I want to be there when you wake up. I'm in this as much as you are. Don't try to talk me out of it."
Seeing the protective glint in Kyle's eyes, Isabel backed down. "Okay Kyle, I'll stay here tonight. I want to do it now."
Kyle stood and held out his hand. He pulled her to her feet and led her to his bedroom. She lay down on the bed and put her finger on the image of Liz in the group picture that sat on Kyle's bedside table.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz lay curled up in the corner of the cell in the cave. Zan was sleeping, his head resting on Liz's stomach, precisely where Max had healed her so many years ago. Liz knew she needed to get to sleep so that Isabel could dreamwalk her, but Max was still sitting in the cave, half-asleep. Liz's heart ached for him. She turned her head so that she was looking at the cave ceiling. She began to daydream about what she and Max would do when the whole thing was over with, and was soon asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isabel was having terrible trouble getting in. No matter how hard she tried, all she saw was the walls of the old granilith chamber.
"Liz!! Where are you?? Let me in, Liz!"
No matter how much she called out, all she saw were the cold walls of the cave.
Isabel woke, her palms damp from clenching them in her sleep. Kyle sat up the instant he felt her stir. She buried her face against his shoulder and started to sob. "I can't get in, Kyle! I can't get in!"
Kyle said nothing, but held Isabel tighter and began stroking her hair as she wept.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz awoke, knowing that Isabel had tried to get into her dream. In her dream, she had seen Isabel banging on the walls of Liz's prison, begging to get in. *I tried to let you in, Izzy.* Liz thought. Liz shifted, careful not to wake Zan. She settled him on the cave floor, his head pillowed by the jacket she had been wearing when Tess had captured her.
Liz looked out into the cave, and saw that Max was still sitting in the center of the cave, still half-asleep.
"There's got to be a way for me to contact him," she said softly, thinking aloud. "But Isabel couldn't get into my dream. How can I even try to contact Max?"
Liz got a flash of Ava years ago, telling her that she had been changed when Max healed her. Then she heard Isabel's voice. "I know my brother, and if there's one voice he'll hear, no matter where he is, no matter what he is doing, it's yours."
"But Isabel helped me then, and there wasn't an alien wall between us then, only a few thousand miles." Liz paced her cell, then looked at Max. He was looking straight at her, and if the "wall" wasn't between them they would have eye contact. She remembered during their high school graduation when Max had managed to form a connection between them just by looking in her eyes. They had passed the time during the salutatorian's speech by sharing memories. Liz knew they didn't really have eye contact no matter how much she looked in his eyes, but she figured she had to try.
"Max," she murmured, staring deeply into his eyes. "Max, I'm here. Max, let me in. Max...Max...Max..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Max was still sitting morosely in the cave, his gaze fixed on the corner where he and Liz always sat. He was puzzled, though, because the longer he looked at it, the more he felt something was wrong with it. It seemed...smaller somehow, although he had no idea how it could be. He shook the thought from his head and began to think of Liz again, searching his mind for places that she could be. Suddenly, Max heard a voice.
"Max...Max…Max...Max, I'm here...Max, let me in...Max.."
"Liz?"
The voice was coming from inside himself, though. He felt the tingly sensation that he always felt when he was just starting a connection with Liz. Completely confused but blindly trusting the sensation, he held onto the thin thread of that connection and started trying to strengthen it. The stronger it got, the stronger Liz's voice became.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz was still staring deep into Max's eyes when she bagan to see that he was hearing her. She could tell that he was trying to strengthen the connection even as she felt it because his eyes got wider and more concentrated.
"Liz? Liz I can feel you, but where are you?"
"Max!!! Max, I'm here."
"Where, Liz?"
"I'm here in the cave Max."
"I don't see you." But he believed she was there.
"Look harder, Max."
Max stared at their corner. He remembered thinking it looked smaller. The longer he stared the more Liz encouraged him. Suddenly, the walls of the cave began to fade.
"You're doing it, Max! You've almost got it!"
The walls cleared, and Max could see Liz standing two feet from him, tears streaming down her face. He looked past her for a moment and saw his son.
"Is that?"
"It's Zan, Max. Your son. Oh, Max, he's the sweetest little boy. Tess was so awful to him!"
"God, Liz. I'm so sorry."
"No, Max. This isn't your fault."
"Liz..."
"Max. No. Where are the others?" Liz felt a change of subject was in order.
Max was about to reply when the rest of the group walked into the cave.
"Max, I think you should go..." Isabel trailed off when she saw Liz and Zan.
Maria let out a shriek and ran towards Liz...and ran straight into the invisible wall. She stumbled backwards and Michael was behind her catching her fall in an instant. "What the hell?" he murmured.
"It's an invisible wall. Well, it was invisible on my side the whole time, but somehow you guys couldn't see through it."
"How did you make it see-through for us?" Kyle asked.
"I connected with Max. More of that I've been change by the healing stuff. I remembered what Isabel said when Max was in New York. I thought maybe I could make it work without her since he wasn't thousands of miles away."
Max looked at Liz with a mixture of love and pride. "And she did make it work. Now we just have to figure out how to get her and Zan out of there."
At that point, Tess entered the cave. "You won't be able to. I'm going to kill you first."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Max whirled to face Tess. Somehow, Liz managed to keep up the connection despite Max's inability to concentrate on it fully. Tess gave an odd little half-smile.
"I'm really here this time, Max. But you won't kill me. Not in front of our son. You're too honorable for that aren't you?"
Max grunted and stepped forward. "Don't hurt them. If you hurt Liz, if you hurt my son...I will kill even if you bring in the entire FBI to watch me do it!"
Liz watched silently. She sent Max all her love and all her faith through their connection. She watched as he stood up taller.
The rest of the group backed towards Liz. They huddled around the now invisible wall and began talking in hushed tones as Tess began to rant about how everything went wrong and how it was all Liz's fault. Knowing it would buy them precious time, Max let her scream. Michael took charge of the huddle.
"Liz, we have to get you and Zan out of that bubble of yours. Any idea how?"
"God, Michael, I don't know. Maybe if we..." Liz felt a small tug on her shirt. Zan stepped out from behind her.
"If you can all connect, you can break the walls with your minds." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Zan huddled back behind Liz again, clinging to her and feeling close to his father.
"Okay, Liz. You're already connected to Max," Maria mused. "Now how can we get the rest of us in on it as well?"
Isabel glanced at Kyle, then said, "I can connect with Liz and then bring the rest of us in." Michael looked at her, surprise evident on his face. "I asked Max how he did it. He explained it to me," Isabel explained.
"Are you sure you can do it?" Michael asked.
"I'm sure." Isabel turned to Liz. "Does Max know what we're doing?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Kyle, Maria, Michael, join hands with me. Here goes nothing."
Isabel focused on Liz's calm face. *How can she be calm?* wondered Isabel. She realized that Liz wasn't just her brother's strength, she was the strength of the whole group.
Suddenly Isabel, and everyone else, was in. They felt the power of the connection surging through them. Liz took control, Zan whispering words of encouragement behind her.
"Okay everybody," said Liz silently through the connection. "Focus on the molecules of the wall. Push them apart. Like when Max heals people, except we're dealing with an inanimate object." Liz pushed against the wall. It was getting soft. "That's it guys," she urged. "We're doing it!" Suddenly Liz's hand went through the wall, and then there was no more wall. It was completely gone.
Isabel, breathing hard, broke the connection. She collapsed against Kyle's chest, and he immediately brought his arms around her.
Tess immediately realized her wall had been broken. Her tirade ended abruptly.
"NO!!!! Dammit! You weren't supposed to break out of there!" All thoughts of Max gone from her head, Tess launched herself at Liz, who dodged the attack. Undaunted, Tess chased Liz out of the cave. Liz ran, not really paying attention to where she was going. She felt Max's panic through their still-unbroken connection and she realized where she was running.
She was running up.
Tess was screaming like a banshee as she chased Liz up the cliff. All to soon, Liz was high as she could go. She stood on a ledge. Far below she could see Maria ushering everyone but Max back into the cave. Liz was grateful Zan was going inside. No matter who died, Liz didn't want Zan to see it.
Tess reached the ledge. "I've got you now, Lizzy Parker. Little Lizzy Parker, you thought you could snag yourself an alien king? Now you won't have him!"
"If you kill me, he'll never be with you."
"I don't want him anymore, I have Kivar. The only thing I want from Max Evans is to watch him suffer. Your death should provide that almost as well as him dying without knowing where you are." With those words, Tess launched herself at Liz. She was too far into her rage to think of using her powers.
Liz clawed at Tess' hands as they closed around her neck. She felt her and Max's combined power racing through her body. "NO!!!" she screamed, and Tess was thrown against the cave wall.
"Well, look at you, the changed human. Your puny powers can't even stop me without my powers." Tess blindly charged at Liz. Following her instincts only, Liz jumped out of the way. Tess realized her mistake too late, and skidded off the ledge. Liz heard the sickening smack of Tess's body hitting the ground. Breathing heavily, Liz began to run down the slope towards her soulmate and fiancee.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By tacit agreement, no attempt was made to heal Tess. Her body was burned and her ashes dumped into one of the bottomless lakes. Liz insisted on saying a prayer for the woman Tess could have been if she had been raised differently. Her compassion made Max love her even more. The location of Tess' granilith was discovered, with help from Zan. They sent it back to Kivar, empty save for all of Tess' things from the motel.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Max and Liz were married one week after Tess' death. A week after that, with a little help from Isabel, they officially adopted a little boy named Alexander James. He chose to be called Alex, because he didn't want to be Zan anymore, and his parents told him that they used to know a man named Alex and that he was a good person. Kyle's father, who had gotten his job back as sheriff, doted on the boy who was partly named after him. On a triple date one night, Michael and Kyle proposed to Maria and Isabel. The two women of course said yes, and the debate began over who would get the girls' apartment. In the end, Liz, Max, and Alex moved in since Max was the only one who didn't have his own place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was after midnight, and Liz lay secure in Max's warm embrace in the loft bedroom. Alex was asleep downstairs, and the apartment was quiet. Bursting with happiness, and unable to keep the reason to herself anymore, she propped herself up on her elbow and looked at Max.
"I have some news for you."
"I could tell. You've been bursting from keeping it all day." Seeing Liz's face fall, Max quickly added, "But I have no idea what it is you want to tell me."
Brightening, Liz revealed her news. "I'm pregnant." She revelled in the emotions flickering across Max's face, and smiled broadly as he settled on joy.
"My God, Liz. That's...that's...I have no words...I'm so happy..."
Liz laughed and brought his hand to her stomach. "What does she want to be named?"
"How do you know it's a girl?"
"I know it." Laughing still, Liz leaned over and kissed Max. The father of her children, her husband, her lover, her soulmate. Her friend.
THE END