Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Summary: This story takes place four years after "Departure". Max, Michael, and Isabel left with Tess, never knowing what she did to Alex. Now they've come back to a few surprises.

Note: This is my first fanfic. Please be kind.

They're Back!

Jim Valenti sat in his cruiser eating his dinner. Most days, on his dinner break he would go home and have some of his wife's famous coconut pie, but tonight she had to work late at the shop. So he had to settle for a burger from the Crashdown Café. Just as he was musing over how much he would love a piece of coconut pie he phone started to ring. He'd been waiting for this call for the last week.

"Hey."

"They're here. Go pick them up and meet the rest of us at the Crashdown."

"Okay. See you in a few." He throws his burger in the bag it came in and started his engine. So much for dinner. He thought to himself. It didn't matter anyways, he'd lost his appetite. For the last four years he wondered if today would ever come. A part of him wished it wouldn't. Tonight was going to be a long night.

He just hoped it wouldn't end with someone getting hurt, or worse.

"Max, it's starting to get dark. How much longer do you think it will take us to walk to Roswell?"

"I don't know Isabel. Maybe an hour or more." Max Evans said looking back at his war torn sister. Gone was the girl with the perfect hair and the perfect clothes. In her place stood a woman that had been through hell and seen more horror than anyone ever should. He wished he could take the pain out of her eyes and give her back her innocents. He just hoped, now that they were back, they all could move on and try to forget the past four years.

Four years ago they left their home in Roswell to go back to their home planet of Antar. They thought they were going to save the life of Max's unborn son. Little did they know that they were walking into a trap.

"Max, can we stop for a few minutes? We've been walking for almost an hour and my feet are killing me." Tess whined from behind him.

Michael, who hadn't said anything since they landed, spun around to face Tess, and grabbed the sliver chain that was tied around her wrists. "Who said you could talk? Do you think we care if your feet hurt? You should just be happy we let you come with us. If I had it my way we would have left you on Antar and let them kill you."

"Michael leave her alone. And Tess we're not stopping until we get to Roswell." Max told the two.

"Why the hell did we even bring her with us Maxwell?"

"Because Michael, unlike our enemies we are not killers. If we left her there they have kill her. And that would have made us no better than them."

"But what are we going to do with her?" Isabel asked her brother.

Max stared at Tess for a minute. Even now he wondered how he could have thought that he ever loved her. Even if she had mind-warped him, why couldn't he have seen through it? He just thanked god that he learned how to block her from ever mind-warping him ever again. "I don't know what we will do with her, Is. We'll figure it out when we get to Roswell."

Just then they heard a car coming down the highway they were walking on. They all looked in the direction the car was coming. "Shit Maxwell, it's a cop car." Michael said.

"Quick everyone get behind those rocks." Max said pointing to some big rocks they had just past. Michael, still holding onto Tess's chain grabbed her around the waist, through his hand over her mouth and pulled her behind the rocks with Max and Isabel. "Tess, if you try anything don't think that I won't kill you." He whispered into her ear.

They all bent down behind the rocks waiting for the cop the drive past them. They were shocked when they heard the car slow down and someone shout out to them. "Are you all going to get into the car or are you going to sit behind those rocks all day."

They froze. Even after four year they all remembered who that voice belong to. Max was the first to move. He stood up from behind the rock and looked at the man behind the wheel of the car. "Valenti?" Never in a million years would have thought to see Jim Valenti out here in the middle of nowhere.

"Hey, Max, it's good to see you."

"What are you doing here?" Max asked as the others stood up.

"Well, I thought you might need a ride."

Michael, ever the suspicious one, asked what we all were thinking. "How did you know we would be here?"

Valenti just smiled. "A little birdie told me. So are you going to get in or not? It's a long walk back to Roswell."

Not knowing what was going on, but also knowing that they had no reason not to trust Valenti (he had always helped them in the past) they got into the cruiser. Max got in the front with Valenti and the others got in the back, making sure that Tess was in the middle. Though Max was sure that Valenti saw the chain around Tess's wrist he didn't say anything as he turned the cruiser around in the middle of the road and started heading back to Roswell.

"Not that I not happy to see you, how did you know where we would be?" Max asked from the passenger seat.

Valenti just signed. "Look, Max, I know you have so questions, hell we have some questions too, but I think it would be best if it waited until we get where we're going. Okay?"

Max didn't ask who we were. "Where are we going?"

"To the Crashdown."

"To the Crashdown? But I would really like to go home first and see our parents." Isabel said.

Valenti smiled into the rear view mirror at her. "Don't worry Isabel you'll see your parents real so. They can't wait to see you."

"Our parents know we're coming? How do they know we're coming?" A shocked Max asked.

"Like I said, let's keep the questions on hold until we get to the Crashdown."

For the first time Tess spoke, from the back seat, with a big smile on her face. "Oh, Jim, you have no idea how happy I am to see you."

"Yeah." Was all he would say, but Max noticed that he gripped the steering wheel a lot tighter. What was that all about? He thought to himself. Before they left Valenti thought of Tess as a daughter. Now he acted like he couldn't even look at her. Did he some how know what had happened on Antar? No there was no way he could know that. But then he shouldn't have known that they had come back either. What was going now here? He tried to figure it out all the way to town.

As soon as they entered Roswell Max could stop looking at everything. It didn't like it changed at all since they left. Everything looked just the same. It made him feel like he never left.

"So Valenti, I know we're not supposed to ask any questions, but I thought you lost your job? What with the cop car?" Michael asked, pulling Max out of his thoughts. Max had forgotten that Valenti lost his job as Sheriff.

Valenti just laughed. "Well Michael I did lose my job, but about a year after you left a got a job as a deputy. And now I worked my way up to Deputy Sheriff."

"Oh" Was all Michael said as we pulled up to the Crashdown Café.

"Well here we are." Valenti said as he turned to look at everyone in the car. This was the first time he really looked at them since he picked them up. The four looked nothing like the kids he knew four years ago. Both Max and Michael looked like they haven't shaved in about a week. Max's hair was a little longer then the last time he had seen him. His also had a scar on the side of his neck. It looked like someone tried to cut his throat. Michael's hair was shorter; it looked a lot like it did when they first meet, though it was not so much spiky as it was messy now. He was also sporting a nasty looking bruise on his cheek. Isabel's hair was shorter too, cut just above her shoulders. They were all wearing the same clothes they had on when they left (Which Jim was surprised that he remembered). Their clothes were caked with dirt and dried mud. They all looked like they could use a long shower.

They looked broken. His heart went out to them. Well, to three of them any ways. He couldn't say he felt anything for Tess. Not after he found out what she did to Alex, and what she did to his son Kyle in the process. It took Kyle a long time to get over his part in Alex's death; even if it hadn't been his fault. He took a good look at the girl that ruined so many lives. She didn't look like she changed much in the four years she was away. Her hair looked the same, but she had it pulled back in a ponytail, so it was hard to tell. She also didn't look as battle worn as the rest of them. He wondered what side she had been one. He notices that they had Tess tied up. Did that mean they knew what she did? And if so why did they bring her back?

When no one moved to get out of the car Valenti put this hand on Max's shoulder. "Don't worry everything is going to be alright. We're all happy you're home."

Max gave him a small smile and opened the car door.