Part One:

It's been one year since they began running, always trying desperately to stay one step head of their enemies. A beat up old black van drives down the interstate, around them lush green trees tower over them, the sunlight peeking through the canopies. Liz sits in the passenger seat marveling at the beauty they are surrounded by; she turns back to Maria. "Hey Maria?" she calls out. Maria however is crashed out, her face digging into Kyle's shoulder. Liz isn't quite sure if Kyle is meditating or sleeping, she turns back in her seat.

Max looks over to Liz. "What is it?" He smiles at her trying to encourage her to share her thoughts with him.

Liz shrugs. "It's nothing." She readjusts herself in her seat. "How much longer are we going to drive?"

Isabel leans forward. "We should camp. The weather is perfect, and—oooh, hey, look." She points to a sign advertising Macie Lamas, Lake Tahoe's number one realtor. A woman about 38 smiles brightly, her long red hair and brown eyes reflecting a kind of over friendliness you only get from someone in sales. Michael pokes his head out over Liz's and sees the billboard just as Max drives by. "We can camp like rich people!"

"What do we need a realtor for?" Michael grouses.

Liz hands Isabel a piece of paper with the number from the billboard. "It said she also has vacations homes listed." Isabel smiles and reaches for her cell phone.

Max pulls the van over. "You both know we can't stay here. We need to stay below the radar at all cost. We can't risk drawing any attention to us."

"Like we did in Twin Falls?" Michael snarks.

"Are you trying to blame me for what went down?" Max faces him, Michael stares at him defiantly. Michael looks over to Maria who is still knocked out; he looks back over to Max.

"I don't think a week will hurt Maximillian." Michael shrugs. "For whatever my opinion is worth anyway." Michael gets out of the van. "I'm going to stretch my legs."

Kyle wakes up and gently nudges Maria off him. "Pee break again?" He slides out of the van; stretching as he looks around and turns back to the van. "There are no bathrooms."

"Max, we can stay for one week. After what happened, we all need a break. I'm not saying what happened is your fault or Michaels, or anyone else's. I'm just sick of take-out and cheap diner food. I want a home cooked meal, and clean sheets that don't smell of cigarettes and borax soap. I want just a taste of normalcy." Liz touches Max's arm, looking at him, her eyes pleading.

"I slept through something important didn't I? What are you guys talking about? Where are we?" Kyle looks between Max, Liz, and Isabel for his answers.

"Apparently," Max begins slowly, "we are going to be staying in Lake Tahoe for week."

Liz leans across the armrest and kisses Max. "Thank you." Izzie hops out of the van and begins dialing Macie's number.

"Whoa, wait really? No van for a week?!" Kyle slaps hand on the side of the van door. "I'll go tell Michael." Maria sits up startled as Kyle walks away.

"Is it my turn to drive?" Maria fixes her ponytail.

"No. We're going to take a break from the road. One week, a vacation house…maybe I dunno where yet. Izzie's on the phone setting it up right now.

"Oh my god!" Maria smiles. "Thank you, Liz Parker for whatever magic you've worked on

your hubby." She laughs and sits back, a thought enters her mind and she sits back up.

"Are we sure we weren't followed?"

Max looks at her. "Only as sure as we normally are." He offers her a sad apologetic smile. Even though Max knows they all made their own choice to runaway, to live this life, he could never shake the feeling if he faced the truth, he had made the choice for all of them years ago when he saved Liz. Everything they had survived, or in the case of Alex, didn't survive, can be traced back to that day. He would die to protect anyone of them, even Kyle, but right now he only had to pretend safety was possible. So Max grinned. "We're safe Maria. I zigged, I zagged, and I looped right and left. By the time the agency finds us, our week of peace will have come and gone. Okay?"

Maria smiles and nods. Liz squeezes Max's hand and mouths "Love you".

Part 2:

"She said she would be waiting at the house so we need to come up with the cash, ASAP." Isabel counting the money they have left unfolds a ten dollar bill. "Okay Kyle Max and Maria go get the food" She hands Max a wad of ones waving her hand over it and converting them to 50's. "Michael and Liz, we're going to need a temporary car to get around in. A van is a bit too conspicuous even for the woods."

"Up for a little grand theft auto Liz?" Michael smirks.

"As always." They exit the van.

"So we'll take the new car up to the house. Did I give you the address?" Izzie waits for Max to nod his affirmative before continuing. "Okay good. So you guys get the food and bring the van up to the house. Macie said it had a garage, so we'll store the van there. Everyone good?"

The crew nods, Kyle and Maria head into the supermarket.

"I'll be right in." Max calls out, he looks back at Isabel. "You sure you don't want me to go with you?"

"Yes. We got this." She waves her hand over her purse changing the stylish but non-descript black leather into a gorgeous cream Dolce and Gabana." Max rolls his eyes, Izzie shrugs. "Hey, I got to look like a trust fund girl." Liz holds out her five dollar sunglasses. "Gucci please." She smiles as Izzie starts transforming her into a preppy Hilton crossover. Michael grunts as he looks around the parking lot of the Safeway.

"Should we go hybrid this time?" He makes his way toward the back of the lot.

"Yes how cute and so 'in'." Liz turns and scans the parking lot. "I mean I'm all for saving the planet but we need something to carry us all around. So can we make it look more like that?" She points to a large black SUV. "Hybrid with leg room is all I'm saying."

Izzie begins converting her one dollar bills into hundreds. "Don't forget the Tabasco. Oh and get ice cream too!"

Max heads into the supermarket.

Part 3:

Macie Lamas practically jumps over the couch to open the door. When she got the call just before noon asking about the Reynolds home she nearly peed from joy. Macie has a perfect sales record this side of the lake; if you have a home to be sold or rented she was the go to lady. The Reynolds home had begun to change that; she could not for the life of her get it rented out. Not because what it looked like or the location. It was a gorgeous house; a three story home with a breath taking view from the roof. Fully furnished, just recently updated with top of the line electronics, the kitchen hand been remodeled as well. The location was perfect; the walk to Zephyr Cove was less than a block away. The problem with renting the house is that the Reynolds were asking for an exorbitant amount. They wanted $7,000.00 for the week, and they weren't willing to negotiate on that amount at all. Stubborn people, fools trying to get that much money during the off season.

Just as she reaches the foyer the doorbell rang again. Fixing her best smile on her face she takes a breathe and opens the door. Her smile falters ever so slightly as she takes in the three people standing before her. They could barely be out of there teens, how could they possible afford this house. Macie tightens her smile.

"Can I help you?"

"Honey with the money we're about to spend you better be able to help us." Michael using a slight east coast accent cocks his head to the side and winks at Macie.

Macie grimaces slightly and looks the three strangers up and down; she notices they aren't wearing Target. They are decked out in designer head to toe. She looks back to Michael dark hair slicked into a faux hawk. Oh my god they must be like Disney celebutants! Macie's smile spreads across her face again.

"Well hello there!" She opens the door wider for them. "Please come in!"

The trio enter and look around the foyer. Liz begins to bounce slight in excitement. Izzie nods her approval. Michael looks bored until he peeks into the living room and sees the 40" plasma mounted to the wall. Macie notices his reaction.

"I'm Macie Lamas, and one of you must be Chyler Penprase."

"That's me. This is my friend, Natalia and her brother Hugh." Izzie points to the living room. "Wow." She walks into the living room.

"They just upgraded everything. I'm sure Hugh will be happy with the size of the flat screen-"

Michael shrugs. "Is there a Playstation?"

Part 4:

Agent Brenton sits at his nondescript desk in his nondescript office reading the report from the surviving agents on the scene in Twin Falls. He wasn't sure what to make of it really, from as far as he could tell two of the three surviving agents were claiming that Liz Parker and Isabel Evans had not only spared their lives but had also protected the wounded men from the others' attacks. Agent Brenton pulls out his cell phone and punches in a series of numbers. "I think it's time we've had that talk you've been looking for." He ends the call and picks up the file.

Sitting back in his chair he looks at the stills from the surveillance camera. The Evans' girl had used her powers to create a shield while the Parker girl shot what looked like electricity out of her hands into the one of the Michaels. Apparently since the last report was filed Mr. Guerin had developed the ability to clone himself. A power that could be very dangerous as far as Council 8 was concerned.

"What to do?" He sighs as he pulls a cigarette from a hidden pack in his desk.

Part 5:

Kyle stands staring at a box of Frosted Flakes. He looks over to a box of Apple Jacks. Maria and Max stand together watching him.

"You can't speed this up Kyle? Maybe you should get the variety pack? I mean, it has them all you know." Maria puts a hand on her hip, sighing in exasperation.

"We can afford to get both." Max offers.

"Just give me a minute. I feel the decision coming soon." Kyle's hand moves over to the Apple Jacks and hovers unsure about his selection.

"Oh jeez." Maria maneuvers the basket down the aisle. "We're moving on join us at your leisure." Max follows Maria into the Bread and Pastries aisle.

"Should we get stuff for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?" Max scans the selection before him.

"Why didn't you let Liz kill the dupe?" Maria covers her mouth briefly; she locks her eyes on Max. "Rath was trying to kill us, he almost killed me, and you stopped her. Why?"

Max looks around. "Can we talk about this later?" He smiles politely as a stock boy rushes past with a leaking carton of juice. Maria crosses her arms.

"I just want to know what you were thinking. We had a chance to permanently end one of our enemies. We could have had one less person we needed to look over our shoulders for. I don't get it Max."

"If she had killed Rath, who would have kept those agents from following us again? They wouldn't have fought each other; they just would have come after us. If she killed someone, even Rath, she would change forever. More than she—than all of us have already had to this last year, and I'm not ready for that just yet." Max turns back to the peanut butter; Kyle joins them with the box of Apple Jacks.

"Hey Izzie called, they got the house, apparently it's awesome." He smiles as he drops the cereal into the cart. He notices the silence between Max and Marian. "She wants to make a roast for dinner so…" He trails off. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Maria lies, "Max can't decide between smooth, chucky, or swirl."

Part 6:

In a small motel just outside of the city of Twin Falls, a young boy plays outside his family's room. He wrestles his action figures against each other, waging a battle between good and evil. "Die, die, die." He growls twisting and mashing the dolls together in. He throws one of his action figures against the door beside his family's room. He moves to pick up the doll when the door opens suddenly.

"Hey kid, keep it down will ya? Jeez." The kid looks at the beat up man before him. Rath's left eye is swollen shut, his lip is busted and bleeding, there are various scrapes and bruises over the his face and torso. "Are you deaf or something?" He kicks the action figure away from his door and slams it shut. The kid quickly grabs his dolls and rushes back into his family's room.

Lonnie lies in the bed. "Oh that was necessary, you tryin' to draw more attention to us? Maybe hopin' for the suits to come and kick your ass some more?" She sits up. "This is stupid why the hell are we waitin here, when we could be out there trying to find Max and his crew and finish them off?"

"Shut it will ya?" He stares at his reflection, he places his hand over his lip and focus's trying to heal himself, nothing happens. "Maybe if you heal me, we can move on faster?"

Lonnie walks over to him; she puts her hand up to his lip, and then steps away. Rath checks out his lip in the mirror. "Nice." He turns back to Lonnie who punches him, busting his lip again. "What the hell was that for you stupid—"

"Maybe next time you will think twice before running into a situation without a little bit of planning first. Maybe next time you will remember that our only way off this damn planet is to kill Max and little back up dancers." She grabs her jacket off the bed. "I'm going out, when I get back we are going after Max, whether you are healed or not." She slams the door and storms off.