Title: Details in the Fabric
Author's note: So this is the third story in my Roswell rewrite, after This Brilliant Dance and Time After Time. It will differ significantly from the 3rd season of Roswell as Alex did not die (but Jim did) and Tess was not a traitor and did not leave Earth with Max's son, giving Max no reason to search for her. That being said, some elements may remain the same, so anything that looks familiar is probably taken from some episode of the show and therefore does not belong to me.
The first half of this chapter is a recap of the important plot points last two stories. Please note that I did not recap the entire plot of both stories, but only the parts that will have a significant impact on this story.
The actual story starts after the recap. So if you remember the previous two stories (and if you do, I applaud your memory as it has been a while since I started this series), then you can skip the first several paragraphs. Otherwise, I recommend reading them.
Summary: Sequel to Time After Time. AU Season Three. In the end, it's the little things that can pull a group together. And it's the little things that can tear them apart.
Recap: The Past Two Years
The crash happened in 1947. Nasedo was thrown from the ship and captured immediately by Agent Pierce Sr. of the FBI. He stayed in the white room for almost forty years. The skins, who followed the ship to Earth, were interested in finding and acquiring the Granolith before it could fall into the hands of the Royal Four, so they searched for any signs of alien life. During their search, they killed several FBI agents, including Agent Pierce Sr. His son, Agent Donald Pierce, began a vendetta against aliens in response to his father's murder.
Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess all hatched at relatively the same time. Max and Isabel were adopted by the Evans, and Michael ended up in foster care with Hank. Tess somehow made it into an adoption agency in Los Angeles, where she was adopted by Andrew and Jessica Harding. The skins found Tess in Los Angeles about a year after she was adopted, and killed both the Hardings in a 'car accident.' Tess was taken in by Jim Valenti, who was a friend of Andrew Harding's. A year later, Tess accidentally used her mind-warp abilities to 'convince' Valenti to adopt her.
Years pass…
Then Liz gets shot (which is where This Brilliant Dance begins), and Max heals her. She eventually tells Alex and Maria, and they join in the attempts to keep the secret safe. Jim Valenti begins investigating the shooting, and Tess does her best to lead him astray, finally mind-warping him. Liz is forced to lie to Kyle, whom she is dating at the time, and Kyle believes that she cheated on him, and is furious. After Kyle and Liz break up, Liz and Max start dating, and Liz receives flashes of Max's previous life.
Just as things are about to calm down again, Nasedo breaks out of the white room and comes to Roswell disguised as Maria's supposed father, Sean. He kills a few people to cover his tracks, but Michael and Maria soon discover that the shape-shifter is in town, and Isabel figures out that he is pretending to be Sean.
Agent Topolski comes to the high school as a guidance counselor. She defects sometime later, and disappears.
Brody Davis and his daughter Sydney come to town, and Max starts working for him. Michael sues for emancipation with help from Mr. Evans, and then Nasedo kills Hank. Michael and Maria start dating, as do Isabel and Alex, Kyle and Trudy McIntire, and Tess and a jock named Chris.
During the annual father-child camping trip, Michael goes to investigate an alien sign he saw in the woods, and Max and Maria chase after him. In the process, Maria gets kidnapped by Agent Topolski, who confides in her about Pierce and the Special Unit. Pierce shows up and kills Agent Topolski, but Michael saves Maria.
Max tries to heal Sydney Davis' cancer, but fails, and reluctantly asks Nasedo for help. The shape-shifter tells them all who they are and explains about past lives. He also gives them the Destiny Book and the matching orb, and they are able to receive the message from Max and Isabel's mother.
Nasedo then kidnaps Maria and takes her to a carnival. Michael discovers that she is missing and rallies the others, and they rush to her rescue. Valenti follows them, and realizes that Tess is involved in this conspiracy.
At the carnival, they rescue Maria, but when Valenti is put in danger, Tess risks her own life to save him. He escapes, but the FBI catches Tess and puts her in the white room.
Nasedo, Valenti, and the three other hybrids band together to rescue Tess and escape the base. Nasedo blows up the base, but Pierce follows them back to Roswell and interrogates Kyle. Max kills Pierce to save everyone else. Nasedo shape-shifts into Pierce to discredit the FBI agent and disband the Special Unit.
Tess tells Valenti and Kyle the entire truth, but then convinces Kyle to let her mind-warp him into forgetting. Max breaks up with Liz because he thinks he is too dangerous to be around, and Michael breaks up with Maria so he can focus on helping Max and Tess. Isabel does the same.
Max, in the pod chamber, discovers the Granolith and calls for the other three aliens. They place the alien device from the white room on the Granolith, unknowingly activating a homing beacon, and the skin discover the location of the Granolith.
Time After Time starts with Max falling apart because he had been forced to kill Pierce. Courtney Banks shows up as the new girl in town, beginning classes at Roswell High School. Michael becomes suspicious of the mayor of Roswell, and discovers that the mayor is investigating them and is in close contact with Senator Whitaker. Liz takes a job with Senator Whitaker's campaign, and meets Nicolas Crawford.
Tess goes missing, and Isabel rescues her. She discovers that Whitaker is a skin, and learns about her past as Vilandra and her love for Khivar. Nasedo informs Michael that Nicolas is Khivar's younger brother, and incredibly dangerous.
The group finds out that the skins are gathering at Copper Summit, and Michael, Max, Maria, Isabel, and Tess go to investigate. There they meet Trevor, another skin who tries to get them to leave. They fight Nicolas, and just barely escape.
When they return to Roswell, Courtney accidentally awakens Zan's personality inside Max. He picks a fight with Kyle, ignores Isabel, and is disdainful towards Liz. The fallout from all of this threatens to tear apart the group.
Michael and Max learn about the Harvest. They attempt to stop it, and in the process, they discover that Courtney is a skin and that Trevor is Michael's brother. Max lets Trevor and Courtney live. Trevor flees, and Courtney tells him about their past lives and that she works for a faction of skins, lead by the mayor of Roswell, that wants Michael on the throne. She also tells him that Trevor is loyal to Khivar and is their enemy.
Shortly after, Liz is visited by Future Michael, who tells her that the entire world has fallen apart because she gave up on Max and left Roswell for boarding school. That allowed Khivar to kill her, and her death completely destroyed Max. Future Michael tells Liz that she can't give up on Max.
We then switch to the Dupes in New York City. Zan is emotionally and physically abusive towards Ava, causing her to finally snap and kills him. She runs away from Rath and Lonnie, and meets Nicolas, who uses her fear of the other Dupes to convince her to join his side.
The five ruling worlds of the solar system that includes Antar are having a Summit to discuss the war, and Max, Tess, Rath, and Lonnie participate. Nicolas and Ava come to the Summit. Max and Tess realize that Rath and Lonnie can't be trusted, and refuse the deal. When they leave the summit, Rath and Lonnie try to kill Max and Tess. Rath escapes, but Lonnie dies.
Things calm down for a bit, but then Tess, Kyle, Jim, and Michael are all trapped in a pocket realm. Kyle's mind is slowly melting, and Michael sees a vision of an unfamiliar girl calling out for help. The skins then attack Max, Isabel, Maria, Liz, and Alex, and there is a big fight during which Tess, Michael, and Kyle are released from the pocket realm. Tess kills most of the skins with a fireball. Max heals Kyle, and Kyle, now that he remembers everything, says he wants nothing to do with them anymore.
Isabel has a vision of Laurie Dupree in a mental hospital, and tells Michael. Michael, Maria, and Nasedo, break into the hospital and discover that Laurie's grandfather was Michael's human donor. Michael and Maria talk to Laurie's stepmother, Meredith Dupree, and help her realize that her stepdaughter is being traumatized by Meredith's brother Bobby. Trevor shows up and tells Michael that he won't tell Khivar about Laurie because he doesn't want to hurt Michael.
The group – minus Michael and Maria – learn from Larek that parasitic crystals have escaped from their ship and are attempting to mutate and take over the world. Max and Liz realize that Philip Evans has been infected by the Queen. Max uses his powers to pull the Queen out of his father and kill it. Philip collapses, and Diane, after witnessing all of this, faints. Tess refuses to mind-warp them, afraid of what her powers can do after they almost killed Kyle, and so Isabel uses her dream-walking gifts to make her mother think it was all a dream. Philip doesn't remember any of what happened.
Things return to normal for several weeks. Tess starts having repeating nightmares of the night the Hardings died, and Kyle finally attempts to make some peace with Tess and Liz as he still cares about both of them. Then Courtney warns Michael that Nicolas is planning something, and shortly after, Rath shows up and kidnaps Isabel. Max and Michael are attacked by skins, and are saved by two Royalists – aliens loyal to the Royal Four – named Jared and Kristalia. They warn Max and Michael against trusting Nasedo.
Trevor confronts Courtney, saying he doesn't trust her. Courtney kidnaps Ava and convinces the Roswell group to send Tess into the skin compound as Ava so that she can get close to Isabel. Tess infiltrates the building, and Max, Michael, Jim, Alex, and the Royalists attack the compound and save Isabel. Nicolas tries to kill Michael, but Trevor, forced to choose between siding with Khivar or saving Michael's life, saves Michael and kills Nicolas. Then Trevor dies, and Courtney helps the others escape from the compound.
Ava escapes and disappears.
About a month later, a car accident puts Alex in a coma and kills Jim Valenti. Max tries to heal Alex, and Isabel tries to dream-walk him, but neither attempt works. Liz and Kyle start to suspect that this might be alien-related, and investigate a mysterious girl named Leanna. Liz tells the group about her suspicions, causing a division, humans against aliens. Liz accuses the others of not caring enough about Alex.
Maria and Liz go to Las Cruces, and discover that Leanna is actually Courtney and she was working on translating the Destiny Book. They are almost killed in an explosion, but are saved by Jared. Isabel then tells the group that she had been working with Alex to try to decipher the Destiny Book, but she didn't know about Leanna. Tess receives a flash of Courtney mind-warping Alex and killing Jim, and attempts to kill the skin, but Courtney escapes.
Diane and Philip meanwhile plant a video camera in Isabel's room and see her using her powers. They confront Max and Isabel, and the two siblings are forced to reveal the truth to their parents.
Nasedo kills the mayor, and then tries to kill Courtney. Courtney defeats – but does not kill – him, and then kills Jared who has been spying on them. Before Jared dies, he summons the rest of the Royalist Army to Roswell.
Courtney tells Liz how to save Alex in exchange for a promise from the group not to go after her. Liz gets a flash from her, and realizes that Courtney was the one to kill Trevor. Courtney tells Liz that being healed by Max has changed her somehow, but then erases Liz's memory of the conversation and leaves Roswell.
They save Alex, who doesn't remember any of what happened, so Isabel tells him everything. Michael tells Maria that he isn't sure how long he is going to be able to stay on Earth, but he loves her and wants to be with her. Max and Liz talk, but things are still strained between them. Kyle decides to leave Roswell, unable to stay after everything that has happened.
The story ends with Khivar coming to Earth.
Chapter One: The Lines That Divide
It's been one week since Alex woke up, and somehow, nothing seems right. We should all be happy, we should be celebrating the fact that he is alive and safe, but we're not. The lines are still there, dividing us, and I can't figure out a way around them.
I'm not sure if I want to figure out a way around them.
Liz Parker paused, the pen hovering over the page of her journal. She let out a long sigh and turned her eyes towards the window of her room. The sun was setting, the end of another beautiful Roswell day. Perfect blue skies, bright golden sun, gentle breeze…
Why couldn't her mood match the weather?
She placed the pen on the desk next to her journal and rubbed her eyes. It was getting hard to write, hard to form coherent thoughts out of her jumbled emotions. She had never really struggled like this before, never had any problem at all filling the pages of her journal. Usually, the words just flowed from her fingers without any hesitation. But not now. Not anymore.
There was a dull throbbing in her head, an ache that didn't seem to want to leave.
She missed Max.
And the very thought of him filled her with anger.
Love was such a messed up thing.
She picked up the pen and started writing again.
Michael ignores me whenever I am in the room. Which is better than the spiteful glares Isabel shoots my way. Sometimes, I want to remind her that Alex – her boyfriend – is alive because of me, because I refused to give up, because I kept pressing the need for an investigation of what really happened. If we had believed her story – her lies – Alex would still be in a coma. Or worse. And, anyway, Isabel was the one who convinced him to work on translating the Destiny Book and then didn't tell any of us about it even after he was in the coma, so how dare she…
She stopped again, and practically threw the pen onto the desk. Since when did her journal serve as a place to record diatribes against the very people she cared so much about?
She pushed back her chair and rose to her feet, stretching her sore muscles. She was exhausted, and the heat only made her even more tired and lethargic.
She put up with Michael ignoring her. It actually wasn't much different from how he treated everyone else nowadays. It was as though something had happened overnight, and now he only had eyes for Maria. And she was happy that Maria seemed so content in that relationship, given how screwed up everything else in their lives was. So she could ignore the fact that Michael was always ignoring her.
But with Isabel and Max… that was harder.
Everything about Max was harder.
The sound of footsteps on the floor caught her attention and she turned, quickly shutting her journal with one hand. A moment later, her mother walked into the room.
"Lizzie, your father and I are going out to a movie," Nancy Parker said softly. "Will you be alright on your own?"
Liz forced a smile. "I'll be fine," she promised. "Have fun."
Ms. Parker nodded and turned to go, but then paused at the doorway and looked back. She studied Liz for a long moment, observing her, and then said, "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"
Liz knew her smile was stretching painfully across her lips and wondered if it looked as fake as it felt. "Of course," she said. A lie. A complete and utter lie. She couldn't talk to her mother about this. She couldn't talk to anyone about this, because she couldn't tell her parents the truth, and the only people who did know about the aliens wouldn't be interested in listening.
Her mother nodded, her expression softening. "Alright then," she said, but there was something off in her voice, something that told Liz that she wasn't fooling anyone.
After her mother left, Liz grabbed her journal and walked over to her bed. Leaning back against the pillows, she flipped through the pages until she reached the end and reread the paragraph she had just written.
Instead of continuing with thoughts about Isabel, however, she started a new paragraph.
My mother is hovering all the time. I think she knows that something is really wrong, even if she doesn't know what it is. She and Dad are afraid to leave me. As though I will run away or something. But there is nothing I can say to fix this, because they seemed to know when I am lying.
Which is ironic, given that they apparently also have no idea I have been lying to them for the past two years.
She stopped, felt a shiver of something run down her spine. Her eyes moved automatically to the window, as though Max would come climbing through it any moment. But he didn't, and she knew he wouldn't. Not now. It was just her mind playing tricks on her, she reasoned. Just her subconscious wishes making her imagine things that wouldn't happen.
"It's not my fault," she said aloud, her words echoed in the empty room. "I didn't do this, I didn't kill Jim and put Alex in a coma. It isn't my fault."
There was no answer. Not that she had really been expecting one.
They hadn't wanted to help Alex. Even Isabel had been against investigating the supposed car accident, and she had known what Alex was really doing at school that night. She had known he was working on the translation to the Destiny Book, and yet she, like Max, Michael, and Tess, had cared more about their safety, about keeping their heads down and avoiding catching anyone's attention, than they had about helping him.
They had gone after Tess when she was trapped in the white room. They had gone after Isabel when she had been captured by the skins. In fact, Michael had even driven to a different city and broken into a mental hospital to help a girl he didn't actually know. These were all actions that had attracted attention, that had put them in danger. And they'd done it anyway.
And yet they couldn't be bothered to help their friend? Why did it still feel like she was the only one who had cared?
She closed the journal and shoved it under one of her pillows, then flopped over onto her stomach. It was going to be a long summer.
Every single step was a challenge.
Of course, it didn't really help that all of his successes were punctuated by bitter bickering between his two companions.
"Can't you just get over it? It's not a big deal."
"Not a big deal, Maria? Really?"
He swung his feet over the side of the bed and pressed his hands against the mattress. The world spun around him, making him suddenly dizzy and nauseous, but he forced himself to relax and wait for the feelings to fade. The doctors had told him that it would take a while before he was really ready to move around on his own, but he refused to simply lie in bed and wait.
He'd been in bed for too long already.
"Look, we fixed everything, Isabel. I don't get why you can't just get over…"
"We didn't fix everything. As Tess, and she'll tell you we didn't fix anything!"
He took a deep breath and pushed himself into a standing position. Almost instantly, pain rushed through his legs, and he wobbled about, his hands clutching at the wall and the railing of his bed to keep himself upright. He felt light-headed.
A quick look at his two companions confirmed what he had suspected – they had not noticed his momentary loss of coordination. They were too busy arguing with each other, and had apparently forgotten that they were supposed to be visiting him.
It was probably for the best, though. He didn't really want to be pulled into this conversation.
"Alex is alive. That's something, isn't it?"
"Yeah. And Liz still blamed all of us for this and…"
"And what? Was she wrong? I mean, if you had just…"
"This is Courtney's fault! She did this, Maria! She is the one to blame!"
That last exclamation had been loud and high-pitched and filled with rage and fury and his head was starting to hurt from all the noise. He tried to ignore, looked down at his feet instead and took a tentative step forward.
And then another.
And another.
He let go of the railing on the bed, leaning his weight on the wall instead. Every step forward was progress, and he desperately needed that. He needed to focus on something. On anything that would get him away from these squabbling voices and the stories they referenced.
He'd been told what had happened, of course, and he still couldn't quite wrap his head around all of it. How could he have been put in a coma by someone they trusted?
How could Jim Valenti be dead?
"And all Liz was trying to do was save Alex. Which is more than I can say for some people."
"Figures you would take her side. Never mind the fact that she accused your boyfriend of not caring about…"
"Leave Michael out of this!"
He hadn't wanted to do this, to translate the Destiny Book. And he certainly hadn't wanted to do it secretly, without telling anyone. But Isabel had said that Max and Michael would try to stop it, and she needed those answers. She had been near tears, begging him to help and…
And he knew better. He'd known better all along, and yet he'd let his love for her cloud his judgment, he'd gone along with a plan that was stupid and could backfire – did backfire – because of her.
Because she had wanted it.
He took another step.
"Then stop acting like you and Liz didn't do anything wrong!"
"We didn't!"
He knew Isabel hadn't told anyone about the conversation they'd had when she asked for his help. He knew she was embarrassed about what she had done, and maybe even a little ashamed. She'd been so frantic for his help that she'd actually stooped to emotional blackmail…
Please, Alex. I need this. I can't… I can't be myself without these answers. I'm too afraid. I can't… don't you see this is the only way I can be with you? This is the only chance. I can't… I can't trust myself otherwise, and I won't put you in danger. I can't be with you unless I know… unless we have that translation…
He had no doubt that she meant every word she'd said, but that did nothing to ease the discomfort he felt when he thought about it. She had to have known that he would always want to be with her. She had to have known how he would react to her words. She'd have to have known how much it sounded like an ultimatum.
He took another step. His fingers slipped on the wall and lifted his other hand to catch himself but his vision was suddenly dimming and the floor was rushing up towards him…
"You dragged Maria on that stupid wild goose chase that nearly got you both killed!"
"And we discovered the truth about Courtney!"
…and he fell, hitting the ground with a jarring thud.
"Alex!"
Maria was at his side immediately, concern in her eyes as she helped him into a sitting position. He leaned his back against the wall, and Isabel hovered over him, holding a glass of water in one hand.
"What are you doing out of bed?" Maria demanded.
"Are you thirsty?" Isabel asked. "Do you need a nurse? Are you in pain?"
Alex gritted his teeth and shook his head. "I'm okay," he said through a clenched jaw, ignoring the spots that still danced through his vision.
He wasn't okay, though. Everything still hurt, and had hurt since the moment he had woken up. But it wasn't just the physical pain. When he closed his eyes, he saw Courtney. Some part of him was terrified of sleeping, in case he didn't wake up again. And his head was filled with too much information, too many problems he couldn't solve.
And everything around him seemed to be falling apart.
Isabel pressed the glass of water into his hands and he accepted it gratefully, but he couldn't quite meet her eyes. But that was okay, because she couldn't meet his, either.
"What were you doing?" Maria asked.
Alex took a sip of the water. "I was trying to walk," he answered honestly. "I was trying to… move forward." He closed his eyes for a moment, thinking.
Valenti was dead. Tess and Kyle were likely dealing with grief he couldn't even begin to comprehend. Amy DeLuca was unraveling, he'd been able to glean that much from Maria during one of her earlier visits. And the group was crumbling before his very eyes.
This wasn't supposed to happen. It wasn't supposed to be like this.
"Alex?" Isabel prompted softly.
He let out a breath and opened his eyes, stared blankly at the wall opposite him. "I'm okay," he said numbly. "I'm okay."
But when he finally met Isabel's eyes, he could see the disbelief in them. She knew he wasn't okay… and she wasn't okay either.
None of them were.
"What do you mean? How can you be leaving? You can't leave."
Although Isabel agreed completely with Michael's sentiment, she could see by the way Tess' eyes hardened that the hybrid General shouldn't have stated his opinion quite so… demandingly. But Michael didn't seem to notice, and was instead pacing back and forth across the small apartment that Tess had decided to rent.
"It's just for the summer," Tess said coldly. "I'm going to help Kyle get settled into his new place and then we're going to do a little site-seeing. You know, a vacation."
"But don't you need to get settled into your place, too?" Max asked, eyeing the boxes piled against the far wall.
Isabel glanced at her brother and saw the shadows under his eyes, the lines around his face. He looked exhausted, and every passing day seemed to make him more tired. The past few weeks had been draining for all of them, and the tension was still thick, their tempers still short, and rapidly fraying.
Tess chewed her lip. "I'll do that later. And everything else has been taken care of. You Dad has helped with getting the… my old house… sold and… and getting emancipation and everything." She stumbled slightly over the words, the cracks showing in her otherwise calm mask. She took a breath, then said, "When I come back, the realtor will have finalized the sale on that house."
"That's good," Isabel murmured. "I'm glad my Dad could help you." She leaned against the edge of the sofa. "It was nice you could get an apartment in the same building as Michael."
Tess shrugged. "Yeah, well… makes the most sense, I guess."
"Can we get back to the part of this conversation where you want to leave?" Michael snapped.
Tess stiffened as she look at him, but Isabel spoke up before she could answer, "He's right, Tess. What if… what if they come?"
"The Royalist army? Aren't they supposed to be our allies?" Tess countered.
Isabel laughed incredulously. "And you suddenly trust that? You trust them?" She folded her arms over her chest, the words catching in her throat as she forced herself to say, "You can't just leave us right now."
"If you need me, if something happens, just call. I'll come back," Tess reasoned. "Anyway, it's just for the summer. It's not like I am moving away permanently."
"It's an entire army!" Michael said fiercely. "An army is going to show up here, Tess."
"Our army," Tess answered. "You don't need me to be here for that."
"We do need you here if we go to war," Michael retorted angrily. "For God's sake, Tess, you have to realize the danger in that. We need you here, not running from…"
"I'm not running," Tess interjected, her tone angry, hard. Flat.
"Really?" Isabel couldn't help but drawl, the sarcasm dripping from her voice. "You've been avoiding us since…" She stopped, cutting off her words, unable to say the Sheriff's name, unable to stand witnessing the flash of pain that would surely make its way across all their faces. Instead, she said, "And now you're leaving Roswell for six weeks. It seems an awful lot like running."
"I want time off," Tess said.
"You can't take time off from being who you are," Michael answered, his voice quieter, more gentle. He scratched his eyebrow for a moment, his temper seemingly better under control, and added, "I'm just not sure this is a good idea right now. Not for any of us, not even you."
"I am perfectly capable of deciding what is a good idea for myself," Tess spat, splotches of color appearing on her pale cheeks. She had grown consistently more pale and withdrawn over the past weeks, but since Kyle had moved out of the house a few days earlier, Tess had become almost unrecognizable in her silence. It was unnerving.
Isabel blinked a few times, groped for the right words. Michael's face showed plainly his disappointment in Tess' decision, and Max just appeared to be in complete disbelief.
"You can't run from this," Isabel said. "You can't run from us. And don't deny that that is exactly what you are doing. If you're going to leave, then at least do me the courtesy of not lying to my face."
A bitter smile tugged at the corners of Tess lips as she said in a dangerously soft voice, "Because, of course, you've never lied to us about anything."
Isabel inhaled sharply, Tess' words rendering her momentarily speechless. It was a low blow, but the other three still hadn't given up their anger for what she hadn't told them, so it didn't come as a surprise. Or, at least, it shouldn't have.
"We're a group, Tess," Max said. "We're family. And we're in this together, whether we like it or not. You leaving is just…"
"Just what?" Tess questioned, titling her chin up and glaring at him. "Just selfish? Just stupid? Just irresponsible? What is it, Max? Let's hear whatever insult you've got for me right now. I mean, all I am trying to do is figure out a way to get my life back in order after what just happened, but hey… if it conflicts with your plans, then it has to be wrong."
"This isn't easy for any of us," Isabel said. "But we're trying."
"Yeah, and so am I. This is me trying. Can't you see that?" A complete silence met Tess words, and she pushed on, "You can't make me stay, and you won't change my mind. So you can either accept it and get over it, or you can not. Either way, it isn't my problem."
"So you really are leaving."
"Yes."
"Oh."
Tess moved away from the door to the apartment and focused again on the suitcase, on the clothing she was attempting to shove into it. Normally, she would fold everything neatly, place it in the luggage in an orderly fashion, but she just couldn't bring herself to do that. She couldn't bring herself to care.
"I thought… I mean, Maria told me that Michael had said you were leaving, but I didn't… I thought he must be wrong."
"He's not," Tess said, not sparing another glance for the person still hovering in the doorway. "Is there anything else you wanted, Liz?"
Liz shrugged. "I just thought… why? Why are you doing this?"
"Why do you care?" Tess shot back, straightening up and giving the brunette a haughty look. "Do you think maybe if you convince me to stay then Max will actually deign to talk to you again? Because I'm not sure interfering in my life will help him forgive you."
"I'm not asking for his forgiveness," Liz answered. "But they need you, Tess. All three of them. They need you to stay around and stay part of their family. I can't imagine what this is like for you right now, but I know that pretending you can avoid…"
"I'm not avoiding anything!"
"You're avoiding them. When they need you the most, you are just walking away like they don't matter!"
"You chose Alex," Tess said, giving Liz a cold look. "You chose Alex, and yet you actually think you can come here and lecture me about…"
"You chose the Sheriff and Kyle," Liz snapped, her face flushing darkly. She walked further into the apartment, letting the door shut behind her, and Tess raised her eyebrows in surprise. No one had mentioned Jim around her in a few days, at least not by name. Even Isabel had been careful to make only allusions to her adopted father in their argument earlier that day.
But Liz didn't seem to notice that, or perhaps she just didn't care. She was angry, that much was obvious. But there was something else buried underneath the anger, and it took Tess a moment to recognize it as hurt.
"You told us that, Tess, don't you remember? You stood in the Crashdown and told us that if you had to choose between Max, Michael, and Isabel, or Kyle and the Sheriff, you would choose the two of them." Liz stopped, then ran a hand through her hair and turned away from Tess, glaring at the window. "Maybe I did choose Alex, but you chose Kyle and the Sheriff, and you can't stand there and tell me that…"
"It doesn't matter though, does it?" Tess cut in sharply, interrupting Liz. "It doesn't matter if I said I would choose Jim, if I wanted to put him first. It doesn't matter because he's still dead. He's dead, because of this. Because of us, because of me. I might not have wanted to put all of you first, but it was still Jim who paid for our lies and our messes. It was still Jim who was sacrificed for this war."
"And you want Alex to join him? Is that it?" Liz questioned.
"Do you really think that I would…" Tess started, but Liz pressed on, not waiting to hear the full reply.
"Of course not," the brunette said. "You would never want Alex dead. But you weren't thinking about Alex. You were thinking about the Sheriff, and only about him. He was all that mattered to you." She paused, studied Tess' face, waiting just long enough for Tess to figure out where her point was going, and then said, "Can you blame me if Alex was the only person that mattered to me? I thought he was going to die. He would have, too."
Tess opened her mouth to say something, then snapped it shut. There really wasn't anything to say to that. And she couldn't deny that Liz had a point. Out of the group, she was the one who best knew what it was like to only be able to focus on one thing, one event, one person.
She sat down on the sofa and pulled idly at a loose curl. "What did you want from me?" she asked finally. "When you came here, what were you expecting? After two years, you have to know by now that you won't be able to talk me out of leaving."
Liz hesitated, then said, "I guess I'm a slow learner."
Tess laughed, unable to keep back the almost-crazy sound that escaped from her throat. Liz looked startled by that response, but the petite alien didn't care. There was something about the earnest look on Liz's face, coupled with those slightly sardonic words, that simply struck Tess as amusing.
"I'll see you in a six weeks, Liz," Tess said.
"Tess, please… just think about…"
"I already thought about this," Tess said flatly. "And since you were the one to remind me that I once told you I would pick Kyle over all of you, you really can't be surprised that now I am doing just that."
She thought of Isabel, of her righteous anger and indignation. Of the disappointment on Michael's face, of the disbelief in Max's gaze. They had all been so convinced that she was running from them, from Jim's death and Courtney's betrayal, from everything that had happened. Somehow, they couldn't see that she wasn't running from anything.
She was running to something.
"He's my brother," Tess murmured. "And he's just moved away from the only home he's known after losing his father to a murdering alien. You, Max, Michael, Isabel… you all say how much you need me to stick around, that we need to be a group right now. Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, I'm doing this because I think Kyle needs me more?"
Liz didn't answer.
Tess hadn't really been expecting it.
"I'll see you in six weeks, Liz," the blonde repeated.
Liz nodded and moved towards the door. Her expression had changed from one of frustration to a more sympathetic look, and when she offered an almost diffident smile, Tess couldn't help but wonder if perhaps, finally, one person seemed to get why she needed to spend the summer with Kyle.
It was somewhat ironic, then, that the acceptance would come from one of the few people whose opinions she didn't really care about.
"Have a good time, Tess," Liz said, pausing at the door long enough to deliver the parting words. "Say hello to Kyle for me." A bitter smile tugged at her lips for a moment, and then she added, "Be sure to come home."
Tess watched silently as Liz then walked from the apartment. Once she was alone again, she lifted her eyes to the ceiling and said softly, "Without Jim and Kyle, I'm not so sure Roswell is still home."
Next Chapter: The Medical Miracle
Due: Sun 9/5