Liz and Maria were both working mindlessly trying to absorb themselves in their work and trying not to think about what was, or wasn't happening at the meeting with Tess.
"Order up!" cried José , the cook for the night, since Michael had traded him for the night off.
"Coming, coming…Be right there" said Maria as she put down the shake she was just starting to make. She touched the plate, which was a little to hot and cried "Ouch! Joseeeé, I thought I told you to stop putting the plates so close to the grill!"
José just shrugged his shoulders and said "Sorry mi vida, I'll try harder next time."
Maria rolled her eyes at that comment and muttered "You better…" under her breath. As she turned around to take her order to her table, she thought to herself of another reason she liked when Michael worked the night shift. At least he never burned her with plates!
"Hey chika, how are you holding up?" she asked Liz as she walked back to the counter to finish her shake.
" 'Bout as good as you are I imagine" she said while wiping down the counter for the 10th time that hour. Her stomach was in knots, and she was trying to be brave. She couldn't wait for that door to open and see Max coming through it though.
"I know, but we have to be strong! I'm sure that everything is fine." Maria tried to sound confident, but wasn't sure if the crack in her voice betrayed her inner feelings. In an effort to be funny she said "Liz, if you wipe down the counter much more, there won't be a counter left to wipe!"
This elicited a small smile from Liz, but still she had an overall queasy feeling in her stomach. She thought to herself "Calm down Liz!"
Just then Alex walked in the door and came over and sat on a barstool. "What's up Ladies?" he said trying to hide his own worry. "How are you holding down the fort in this mad house?" He indicated all the empty chairs and tables around him. Maria only had one table left, and she planned on locking up when they were done eating. The girls laughed at his joke and his attempt to lighten the mood. They spent the next thirty minutes just trying to make more jokes and hold it together. As Liz was wiping down the last table, and Maria was turning the OPEN sign to CLOSED, the door to the Crashdown opened and in walked the pod squad.
Liz was just putting a pencil behind her ear and practically poked herself in the head with it when she saw Max. Relief flooded her features and he could tell she had been worried.
"Hey Max, how'd it go?" she said while coming over to meet him.
He gathered her in a bear hug, kissed the top of her head and replied "Thank you for worrying about me, but everything went fine." He pulled back to look into her eyes and continued "We still have a lot to talk about with Tess, but I'm confident that she does not pose a threat."
"I agree" Michael interjected.
"Well that's a first" Maria said as she walked up to him. Michael gave her a squinty eyed look and she stated quickly "So what happened?"
Michael pulled out a chair, from the nearest table, and turned the seat around so the backrest was against his chest and sat down. "Well, we found out that our instincts were correct on one thing."
"What's that?" Liz asked.
Michael gestured with his head in Max's direction and states "Not only is Maxamillion our leader, he's supposed to be our king."
Liz and Maria were both struck dumb.
Alex, always coming to the rescue of dumbstruck females, replied and said "That's very interesting, but where does that leave you and Isabel?"
Isabel came over to where Alex was now standing and said, "Guess what Alex, I'm a princess!"
Alex muttered under his breath "I already knew that…"
Michael spoke up, "What was that Whitman?" while trying to hide a smirk.
Isabel not hearing what he said, spoke up "What? What did I miss!"
Michael quickly broke in. "Nothing important." While still trying to hide his amusement " Anyway Whitman, in answer to your question, I'm supposed to be the leader of Max's armies."
Alex clapped him on the shoulder and said "So your blowing up things is good for something, huh?"
Michael's smile quickly faded and he stated "Touching."
To which Alex replied. "Sorry…" and whipped his hand down.
Maria just shrugged her shoulders and states "He's hopeless!" gesturing at Michael.
Isabel giggled at that and then said "Well, we still have a lot to find out , and CAN you guys PLEASE save it for later?" This was said in the direction of Max and Liz who were getting cozy in a booth since Michael and Isabel were busy distracted with Alex and Maria.
Max just rolled his eyes and went back to kissing Liz.
Isabel just gave her brother a sideways glance with her slanted eyes and started talking to Maria.
While everyone in the restaurant was distracted, no one noticed one curly haired blonde slipping into the café.
Tess looked around the aptly named café and while no one noticed, started listening to the conversations. She had been walking home, unable to find Kyle at the Carnival, and saw the pod squad in the café and wondered what could her new alien friends possibly be doing looking so cozy with a bunch of humans. She figured she'd hang back, leaning up against the back wall, and wait to be noticed. She heard Isabel first talking to Maria.
"When she first came up to me and Max, she said something like "Purple skies, lakes, and blue grass…or something. It was kinda freaky."
Tess, all of a sudden, wondered if she was dreaming…
Michael was talking to Alex and was saying "She doesn't seem like a threat at all, but we need to talk to her more and find our more information from her."
Tess shook her head as if to clear it, and could not believe what she was hearing. All of her feelings of peace and friendship she had felt for these people were slowly slipping away…she thought to herself "This can't be happeing…!"
Just as she saw Max making out with a girl she had seen from school, who was obviously human, her emotional dam burst.
"You TRAITORS!" She screamed "You have betrayed me!" Without another word she ran out of the café.
Michael began to run after her but as soon as he got out the front door, she had disappeared. He ran back inside.
"Didn't you guys tell her about us?" Maria asked to anyone in the pod squad.
"We were going to…" Isabel began "but since it was getting late, and we knew we'd have a lot of explaining to do, we thought we'd save it for tomorrow."
"Oh great, a crazy, angry alien on the loose, just what we need" Alex stated while throwing up his hands.
"Alex, calm down, we'll find her and explain." Isabel stated.
Michael spoke up and said "I'll get to the Valenti's and see if she's there."
Max walked over to Michael and said "No Michael, take Isabel and start searching near here. There are a lot of places to hide, and we need to find her as soon as possible. Besides, the Sheriff still doesn't know Tess is an alien, so I need to explain that to him too."
Michael gave his usual sarcastic salute and replied "Yes sir, whatever you say."
Max then looked at Alex and stated, "Can you take Maria home?"
"Wait, Wait, Wait" Maria broke in with her hand in a stop gesture, "I'm staying right here with Liz…safety in numbers and all that."
"Don't worry Max" Alex said "I'll stay with the girls and make sure they are ok."
Liz piped up "Hey I can take care of myself, I want to go with You Max!"
"Liz, it's to dangerous, please just stay here with Alex and Maria. I promise I'll call you as soon as we track down Tess."
"Okaaay…" she said, while looking down "…but I don't like this."
"I'm sorry Liz, we have to do this." Max replied.
Michael walked over to the door and said "Come ON, we are wasting time, let's go!"
"I'll call you as soon as I can" Max said to Liz.
Liz gave Max a quick peck on the cheek and a small hug and then they were gone.
"Well ladies, what do you want to do now?" Alex asked.
Maria looked scared out of her mind, and Liz stated. "Well, we can at least check all around the crashdown and make sure she's not around here."
"Oh, no" Maria said, "Max said to stay put, and if I have to sit on you myself, you are not stepping foot out of this restaurant."
"Fine" Liz stated. "Well, Alex, how do you feel about a make over?"
Alex's face turned a little whiter than usual and he pleaded with them "You girls aren't going to put me in a face mask again and paint my toenails are you?"
This changed the mood, and the girls looked at each other and then at him with menacing smiles.