He hated not saying good-bye, but it was time for him to leave and he couldn't risk it. She wouldn't want him to go and the second she unleashed those doe-eyes on him, he was always so fucking slain he couldn't say no.

So he was leaving now, in the middle of the night, when everybody else was asleep. His sister would hate him for it in the morning, but it was the way it had to be. He needed answers and he wasn't going to find them in Roswell.

"You ready?" He glanced over at the female next to him, offering her a wry smile.

"Not really." She smiled back, without humor and with eyes far too grim for one so young.

"You still leaving?" Her smile was fake, forced, her expression fluctuating between concern and fear. If his sister ever found out she'd helped him, it was completely like the two girls would lose their burgeoning friendship.

She'd been alone for so long, she valued that friendship far more than she valued any of her material possession and she had some pretty neat stuff thanks to her Dad.

"Yes," he replied on a sigh, pulling his carefully packed duffel just a little bit tighter against his body.

She said nothing in reply, blue eyes flashing once as she jerked her head back around to the road in front of them.

"Nobody will be waiting for you," she informed him, obviously trying to come off as warning and instead reminding him more of a petulant child who didn't get her way.

He sighed again.

"I know."

"You won't have your sister or your parents to rely on."

"I know."

"There's no guarantee you'll even recognize them," she continued on, delving into the heart of the issue. "And there's even less of a guarantee that they'll talk to you. You aren't exactly their favorite person."

Now that was annoying.

"Sins of the past," he snapped back sharply, scowling as he shifted his body downwards in his seat. "It's been centuries since he died, and they already think I'm dead anyways."

"They don't think you're dead," the girl snapped back, equally snippy as she made a right-hand turn towards their destination. "They don't even know you exist."

"They will," he promised with honesty and determination that her scowl dropping to be replaced by worry.

"Look, you know, the last guy…he didn't do too well. He screwed up and they crucified him for it."

"I'm hardly going to go walking down the middle of the street using my powers without so much as a by-your-leave. I'm not that stupid."

His joking tone elicited a flash of a smile from the younger girl, but it dissipated as she made another turn.

"Just, be careful. You're a good guy, but this is the mother of all sucky situations – I don't want things to get worse."

"Hey," he softened his tone, prompting her to turn and look at him, the streetlights lining the roadway glinting harsh against the tear tracks on her cheeks.

"I'm going to be fine."

She sniffled at that, reaching up to hastily wipe the tracks away.

"You don't know that," she stated, somewhat angrily, eyes on the road as she spotted their final destination. "Nobody ever knows that."

There was a finality to her words that reminded him, with painful clarity, that of all the people in Roswell, she was definitely the one who understood that better than anyone.

"You're right," he apologized as the car drew to a stop. "I don't. But I promise you, I'm going to do my damned best to come back in one piece."

She blinked at that, sitting there in the quiet for a long moment until the sound of the car door opening had her turning to find him with one foot out the door.

"You're coming back?" An odd mixture of hope, longing, disbelief, and suspicion colored her words, prompting him to turn to look at her, a wry smile on his face.

"Why wouldn't I come back? Roswell is my home."

"But I thought, since you're going to meet them, you were going to stay…I mean, it's a pretty big trip and I was sure it was going to just be one way because, you know, you were being so sneaky and you never asked for me to make arrangements back and since I was the one getting you there – "

"Hey!" He interrupted, smiling faintly at her chattering tones that so reminded him of Maria.

"It's okay," he assured her, ducking his head over to lay a kiss across her forehead before pulling back with a grin. "I'm coming back."

"You promise?" Her wide blue eyes were so anxious, so worried. He reached over and rubbed a hand through her tousled hair, softening his smile as he cupped her delicate jaw in his hand.

"I promise." They stared at each other for a few long moment, with her gauging his sincerity before finally releasing her breath on a sigh.

"Go," she instructed, pulling his hand from her face and giving him a faint push. "Before I change my mind and call your sister."

He grimaced at that.

"Remember your promise," he reminded her firmly as he climbed from the vehicle.

"I will," she replied, not sounding the least bit happy about it. She didn't like lying to her friends and she especially didn't like lying to his parents. They were good people.

"Good. Well, then." He hadn't really thought about what he'd say by this point – he hadn't really thought about reaching this point. His leap of logic had consisted from going from Point A to Point B with no stops in between.

He wasn't quite sure if this was a stop, but it was definitely a pause.

"Go," she sounded amused now, her lips turning upwards and her blue eyes dancing with a mischievous spark. "Before you change your mind. Again."

He fought a grin and failed most spectacularly.

"See you, then."

"Yeah, see you." Her anxiety was back, displayed in the way she was delicately chewing on her bottom lip. He nodded, shutting the door and turning away from the car and towards the bus station.

He took one step, then another, and another until he was halfway to the station house when he heard a voice calling behind him.

"What?" He hollered, turning to find her sticking her head out the car window.

"Remember," she yelled back. "If you have any problems or need any help, you know where to find me."

He smiled at that.

"I will," he promised, his grin taking on a sad undertone as he waved his last good-bye, the words escaping him.

He turned around before the sight of her in the front seat of the car drew him back, back to the safety and comfort of his family and his life in Roswell.

He distracted himself, trying not to think as he stood in line at the ticket window. It was one o'clock in the morning, but he still had to stand in a line. People were so impatient to go places these days.

He was impatient, too, but not for the same reason. He wanted to get this over with, to finish this chapter in his life so he could move on to the next one – he had a sister waiting on him, a girlfriend, and a brother, not by blood but by choice.

His heart wrenched slightly at the thought of his girl. She was so special, so beautiful…so strong and fragile, such a contradiction of terms.

He was going to break her heart with this, he knew.

And she wasn't going to wait for him. She had enough spunk, enough dignity and anger and resentment and so many other emotions that she'd move on in an heartbeat just to keep from feeling them.

But she was his girl, always would be. People could ramble on about destiny all they wanted, but written in the stars or not, he was choosing his own, and that meant her.

"Next!" The teller was bored, tired, and probably a half an hour past his regularly scheduled cigarette break, so he endeavored to make this as quick as possible.

"One ticket to Boston," he ordered, sliding the money underneath the window.

"Boston?" the guy accepted the money, eyeing him up and down as his fingers automatically danced across the board.

"Harvard?" he questioned, taking in the kids clean-cut appearance with a grunt as he slid the ticket back to the boy.

The boy grinned wryly back.

"Ipswich, actually," he replied.

A/N: Reposting of an old fic. Only have the two prologues and four chapters written. I've been warning people (against the cold-hearted harpy that is my review-whore muse's better wishes) that it'll be a while (if at all) before anything (and I mean anything) gets updated. Apologies. Reality is a Class-A Bitch.

-Abandon