A/N: The lyrics below are to the song Clocks by Coldplay and some parts of this chapter are taken from various Roswell episodes.

Confusion never stops

Closing walls and ticking clocks

Gonna come back and take you home

I could not stop that you know singing

Come out upon my seas

Cursed missed opportunities

Chapter Nine: Story of My Life

October 25th, 1999

Michael's feet tangled and he barely caught himself before he hit the floor, cursing softly under his breath, and then holding it as he waited to see if anyone had heard the noise he made entering the room. There was no sound, an encouraging if expected sign, since the girls were at school and Jeff, as far as he knew, was down in the restaurant. Good, he didn't need witnesses to him ditching school, breaking and entering, and invading the twins' privacy.

Straightening, he scanned the room, noting the twin beds separated by a nightstand, one covered in a simple, dark red quilt, and the other in a whimsical, black and white patterned silk coverlet. The rest of the decorations and items in the room were equally mismatched, but somehow harmonious, not clashing like one would expect.

It perfectly suited the sisters and he could picture them spending time there, Liz at the desk, studying or writing, and Tess in the basket chair next to the bookshelf reading one of the ridiculous number of fairytale books or harassing her sister with the makeshift rubber band gun he could see sticking out from behind the cushion.

Shaking himself out of his distracted reverie, he reached out with his other senses for the tell tale tingle of her energy, and felt a pool of it below her bed. Quickly striding over, he got on his hands and knees and felt the floor beneath it; focusing his power, he pushed his hand through the floorboards and curled his fingers around the first thing he found, lifting it out. Before he could make sure that it was what he was looking for, he heard the apartment door open and cursed again.

Tucking the book into his jacket, he made for the window, leaving as quietly as he could manage and heading down the fire escape. He'd check on what he found later, it was time to get back to school before Raelyn or one of the others noticed him missing.

x

"Everybody had their secrets. There isn't a person alive today who's what they appear to be. Exposing these secrets is the job of the historian. Even the most normal of us has extraordinary qualities just waiting to be uncovered."

Liz heard Michael and Kyle snort from their respective seats while Tess and Maria exchanged rolled eyes. "Yes, I'm sure, Tommy Hoeig has all kinds of untapped potential," Isabel murmured sarcastically from behind her and Liz bit back a chuckle, not wanting to draw the teacher's attention.

"Don't underestimate his ability to find new heights of assholedom," Vicky Delaney snarked back quietly, making Liz nearly choke as she swallowed another laugh.

Mr. Sommers shot their corner of the room a mild glare and continued. "For tonight's assignment, I've paired you together. It is your job as historians to find out as much as you can about your partner by asking these specific questions, and then writing up an oral history report for Wednesday."

Liz finally glanced down at the paper he'd handed out and frowned, hoping she got paired with one of their group who, oddly enough, all actually had this one class in common. Maria looked even less pleased and raised her hand. "Uh, excuse me, but these are kind of personal, don't you think? There are some people in this class I don't want to share a bathroom with, much less intimate details of my life."

The whole class laughed until Mr. Sommer's irritated hush quieted them all down. "Personal is the goal of the professional biographer, Miss Deluca, and who knows? You might just make a new friend," he stated with the barest hint of a smirk, making Liz reevaluate his intelligence, and evil factor. "Okay, so the partners are as follows: Daskal with Hausman, Kalinowski with Neil, L. Parker with Delaney, T. Parker with Nicholas, I. Evans with Whitman, M. Evans with Deluca, Valenti with Guerin, Papas with Cooney, Trussel with Wolf, Martinez with Peters, and Roy with Zavala."

Liz glanced back at Vicky and smiled hesitantly, relaxing slightly when the pretty blonde smiled back; clearly Isabel wasn't the only nice popular girl. Maria looked pleased with her assignment, as did Tess, but Michael and Kyle were exchanging not-quite-hostile glances, making her bite her lip as frustration, worry, and other emotions too tangled for her to identify churned in her stomach.

One way or another, this was not going to end well.

x

"So, Max, this should be fun, getting to know each other better," Maria said with a sugary smile, a smile that widened at his hesitant nod. "Well then, take a seat, I'll go get us some drinks and then we can get started! You like cherry coke, right?" She bustled off before he could answer and shot a wink at Tess, who was clearing her last table before joining Lyn in the back for their interviews. The blonde winked back and Maria hummed happily under her breath, an excuse to ask personal questions of the cutest boy in school? She might just have to rethink her Mr. Sommers is evil incarnate theory.

Filling two glasses, she returned to the table, sliding one across to Max and then handing him a bottle of Tabasco out of her apron with a coy smile. "Do you want to go first, or shall I?"

Max flushed faintly. "Uh, you can go first."

"Okay then, we'll start with an easy one. What's your favorite ice cream flavor?" Maria asked, folding her hands in front of her and leaning forward, wishing she'd invested in that water bra she saw at the store.

"Vanilla," he stated, seemingly relieved by the impersonal nature of the question. Maria gloated internally, that's it, relax, we'll get to the interesting stuff soon enough.

"Simple and sweet, I like it," she said with a grin. "My favorite is rocky road; I just can't resist the frozen marshmallows." His smile warmed a bit and she fought the urge to wiggle happily in her seat. "So, onto the next one. Who's your favorite relative?"

He actually chuckled. "Isabel, of course, she'd make me regret it if I loved anyone else more."

"I don't know if that's creepy, or sweet," Maria replied dryly, earning herself another chuckle. "Mine is my mom, she's amazing, raised me all by herself after my loser dad skipped town." Her voice tightened ever so slightly on the last words, but she pushed down the old pain and smiled brighter, ignoring his concerned expression. "Here's another easy one, what's your favorite subject in school?

"English," he answered after a pause. "I guess I'm just a nerd at heart, I love to read." Cocking his head endearingly to the side, he smiled at her. "How about you? What about school does Maria Deluca like? Drama perhaps?"

She laughed, pleasantly surprised by him actually initiating a joke. Tess was so wrong, he wasn't boring, just shy. "You'd think, but I don't like being told how to act. Um, if I had to pick a favorite, I guess it would be French. It just sounds pretty." She shot him a wicked grin. "And they have lots of words for naughty things."

He choked on his soda, but grinned bashfully back at her after clearing his throat. "Um, that's great." He looked down at his paper, cheeks a little pink. "So, uh, what's your favorite TV show?"

"Dawson's Creek is my guilty pleasure, but you can't beat Buffy, even Alex doesn't complain when we watch that one."

He gave her a conspiratorial smile. "I think Isabel watches that one too, although she'd never admit it."

She grinned. Despite becoming friends with the icy blonde, she'd never turn down dirt on her, ways to catch a glimpse of the vulnerable girl she now knew lurked behind the goddess exterior. "So, what about you?"

He shrugged. "I don't really watch TV."

She raised an eyebrow at him, pursing her lips thoughtfully. "Well, we'll just have to fix that. We're supposed to be bonding as a group after all; you'll have to come to one of our movie and TV nights."

His smile was a little hesitant again, but he nodded, and Maria grinned smugly. Phase one complete.

x

"I'm so glad we're getting this chance to talk, Alex." Isabel said with a shark like smile and Alex winced, wondering exactly the beautiful blonde had in mind as a conversation topic.

"Uh yeah, me too. So, what's the next question?"

"What's your favorite movie, and I have a side question to add, why haven't you taken Raelyn to one yet? Or any other date-like activity?"

Alex nearly choked on his tongue, then blushed furiously, suddenly regretting agreeing to work on this at Isabel's house instead of the Crashdown as he realized that her stated reason of 'less distractions', had been code for, 'less witnesses'. "I, uh, I," he grit his teeth and the rest of his sentence tumbled out in an almost indecipherable rush, "I'mafraidshewon'tsayyes."

Her stern expression softened and she smiled almost fondly at him. "You idiot, she's so hopelessly crushing on you that I'm amazed you two get through a day without walking into walls because you're too busy staring at each other to pay attention to reality."

He gaped, then flushed again, hope rising in him that Liz and Tess hadn't been crazy when they told him the same thing. "Really?"

"Yes, really," she said dryly, rolling her eyes. "Now, let's finish this stupid assignment so we can move on to planning your first date."

Alex raised an eyebrow at her, summoning his backbone. "I think I can handle that much on my own."

She laughed and shook her head at him. "Maybe you could, but you're taking out my sister, so you're going to have to get used to me interfering sooner or later. Besides," she added with a smirk, "It'll be better if I plan it anyways."

He blinked at her before grinning reluctantly; she probably had a point, and if she was right, he would have plenty of time to plan dates for he and Lyn in the future. Instead of smiling back at him, that glint appeared in her eyes again and he leaned back warily. "Now, let's skip down a few questions; have you ever been in love?"

x

"I can't believe you and your sister can share this room without killing each other," Vicky said with a smile, glancing around the bedroom. "If my parents had made me and my older sister share a room, one of us would be in prison, and the other one would be in the ground."

Liz laughed, still slightly amazed that Vicky was so nice, and to her, given that the rumor mill had her going on a date with Kyle the weekend before. She thought it was in the manual that you were supposed to hate the ex's of anyone you were dating. "Yeah, we tried our own rooms once, after," she paused and shrugged when Vicky gave her a sympathetic smile, "But we just like sharing."

"Well I think that's awesome. It's hard enough to find girls worth being friends with, and you have one in the next bed over." Vicky grinned and glanced down at their history assignment. "And I bet she comes in handy dealing with any enemies you have."

Liz hid her internal flinch and smiled weakly. "I hope I don't have any enemies. What about you?"

Vicky shrugged carelessly. "Unless you count the soulless girls in the 'popular' club, then no, although my dad's new wannabe trophy wife isn't exactly fond of me."

"That sucks, I'm sorry," Liz murmured, shifting a little on the bed as she fought down the urge to squeeze the other girl's hand like she would for Tess or Maria.

"I'm not," Vicky said brightly. "It's fun pissing her off."

Liz couldn't help but join her in her laughter, the sound too genuinely amused to resist. "So, what's your greatest strength?" she finally asked, glancing down at her paper again.

"Besides annoying my stepmother? I can put together to die for outfits from the thrift store bargain bins, and every other girl in school thinks I only wear designer."

That surprised another laugh out of Liz. "You know, Vicky? You're kind of awesome."

Vicky grinned smugly, reminding Liz of Isabel, another unexpectedly awesome new friend. "I know. Now what's your greatest strength? And please don't say being perfect, because we all already know that," the other girl said with a wink.

Liz rolled her eyes. "If I could find whoever gave me that nickname in grade school, I'd slap them. If you want, Tess will make you a list of ways that I'm not perfect." The blonde chuckled. "As for my greatest strength, I think it's my family. What about your greatest weakness?"

"Iced coffee; I live for the day that Roswell gets a Starbucks," Vicky said fervently, a dreamy expression on her face. "Sugary, caffeinated goodness, you can't go wrong."

"Maybe I'll talk to dad about adding some coffee drinks to the menu," Liz said slyly, grinning when Vicky's eyes widened excitedly. "I think my greatest weakness is over thinking things."

"I never would have guessed," Vicky deadpanned. Liz stuck her tongue out at her and both girls laughed. "So, do you envy anyone?"

Liz shrugged and assumed a diplomatic tone. "Every person I meet has a quality I admire."

"Even Tommy Hoeig?" Vicky asked dryly, and Liz giggled. Mr. Sommers was definitely becoming one of her favorite teachers.

x

"With whom do you identify the most, living or dead?" Raelyn asked in her quiet voice and Tess tapped her pen against her lips.

"E.T? Seven of Nine? Leeloo?" she offered after a moment, lips quirking into a grin and earning a soft giggle from the other girl. "I like Phoebe, from Charmed too, but in real life, probably Liz; sometimes it feels like we share a brain."

Raelyn smiled. "That must be both nice, and difficult."

Tess nodded her agreement. "Not as difficult as your gift though, hearing Liz is one thing, but I would not want to be stuck hearing or feeling anything from our classmates' inner psyches."

The redhead scrunched up her nose. "It's definitely not fun, but," she shrugged, "if I didn't have them, it would mean I didn't have Michael, or Isabel and Max, and even though Michael would tell me I was being ridiculously sappy, family makes everything worth it."

"While normally I'd agree with Michael on that sentiment, sometimes sappy is okay," Tess said with a grin. "And I'm going to assume Michael's your answer for that one, so, next question is: Do you have a sense of adventure? Do you like to take risks?"

"Our whole lives are one big adventure," Raelyn stated dryly. "But, unless they're necessary, no, I'm not a fan of taking risks."

"Ditto," Tess agreed with a grimace. "Sadly, they seem to be quite necessary in those adventurous lives of ours."

The other girl nodded with a rueful smile. "Well, let's talk about something more cheerful. What's your favorite book?"

"The Golden Book of Fairytales. Our Grandma Claudia gave it to me for my second Christmas here. I've gotten a new fairytale book every Christmas since then, but that one's still my favorite. What's yours?"

Raelyn flushed a little. "The Lord of the Rings, I know it's geeky, but I just love that he created so many complete languages and histories for the series; it's fascinating. Michael threatened to disown me if I actually learned the two elvish languages."

Tess grinned slyly. "No wonder you and Alex get along so well." The other girl blushed brighter, turning nearly as red as her hair, and Tess laughed, before sobering as she glanced back down at their assignment. "Okay then, let's move back to the depressing topics. What are you afraid of?"

The redhead smiled sadly. "The same thing you are, the same we all are afraid of – losing my family." Tess reached out and squeezed her hand, silently praying that none of them had to face that particular fear. Even in her fairytales, sometimes there wasn't a happy ending."

x

"These questions are so stupid," Kyle muttered, and Michael grunted in agreement, both boys eyeing each other warily at the hint of camaraderie. "Right, so, what's your favorite animal?"

"Rattlesnake," Michael drawled after a moment, smirking slightly as he remembered the day he brought the skin of one to show and tell, and spent the day being annoyed by a very chatty Kyle. "You still have an obsession with your dad's handcuffs?" he asked mockingly when he saw the glint of recollection in the other boy's eyes.

"Very funny, Guerin, I have no desire to play into whatever sick fantasies you might have," Kyle retorted, and Michael's smirk widened. "Let's just finish this stupid thing, we're almost done. My favorite is monkeys. Do you keep a journal of your life?"

The boys just looked at each other and snorted at the same time. "Do you think Mr. Sommers keeps a journal?" Michael asked as they both scribbled down no, frowning at the mildly disturbing thought.

"I think if he does, I don't want to know what's in it," Kyle snarked with an eye roll, before moving on to the next question. "Who knows you best in this world? Assuming anyone wants to get to know whatever's in that head of yours."

Michael glared at him mildly. "My sister. What about you? Who has the 411 on the Valenti psyche?"

Kyle glared back. "My father. Last question, Guerin, assuming it's one you can answer. "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Michael actually had no idea how to answer that question, other than the honest answer of hoping he survived to grow up, and he certainly wasn't going to say the answer he'd gotten in his career profile, fireman or some other type of rescue worker, so he settled for sarcasm. "An Elvis impersonator in Vegas. What about you, Valenti, going to be a cop like your daddy?"

"Contrary to that Topolsky woman's belief, no, I have no desire to enter law enforcement. I'm going to be a professional athlete."

"Well, maybe I can sing at one of your games," Michael said with another smirk, and the other boy smirked back, before rolling his eyes again and rising to his feet.

"Nice chatting with you, Guerin, let's not do it again."

x

"So how did the interview with Vicky go?" Tess asked as she collapsed onto her bed, kicking her shoes beneath it and stretching her arms over her head.

Liz looked up from her desk where she'd been typing up the assignment and smiled. "It was actually really fun; I can see why Isabel likes her. How about you and Raelyn? Did you sing Alex's praises?"

Her sister laughed. "A couple times, but mostly we just talked, bonded over our crazy, overprotective siblings." Liz stuck her tongue out at her and Tess giggled again, before flinging herself back on her pillows. "I know it's stupid with Topolsky and the Sheriff and everything, but sometimes I feel like we can still have normal lives, you know?" She looked up and saw Liz's sad smile and agreeing nod. "Or, at least, semi-normal."

"I know. Part of me still hates everything we've learned, and of course that damn shooting, but it's kind of nice having the others to talk to, and I'm definitely glad Alex and Maria finally know." Liz pushed her notebook away and rose to her feet, stretching her arms above her head before sitting down on her own bed across from her sister. "How are you dealing with the other stuff? Talked to Max yet?"

Tess shook her head with a grimace. "No, and frankly I don't plan to. What's there to say? We were married in a past life neither of us remembers, he's clearly crushing on you, or was anyways, I think Maria's working on changing that, and I have no interest in him. Besides, Isabel's much more fun to hang out with, so I'm doing enough bonding with my former alien family."

Liz chuckled. "Fine, whatever you want, I still think you should talk to him thought. If only to prevent future awkwardness."

"At the expense of present awkwardness? I vote for postponing the awkward as long as humanly, or inhumanly, possible," Tess disagreed. "I'm going to take a shower; I'll try not to use all the hot water."

She vanished into the bathroom and Liz smiled, before sliding off the bed and climbing half under it to reach into her secret hidey hole; she pulled out two journals, one with the dreams, and another she'd started to document the powers of everyone in the group and the things they'd seen and felt in the cave, but the third, her personal thoughts and feelings, was missing.

'Tess? Did you borrow my journal for some reason?' she asked silently, knowing it was unlikely, but hoping all the same as dread began to curl its icy fingers into her gut.

'No, why?'

Liz felt nauseous. 'Because it's missing, and only someone with powers could have taken it.'

'Well, shit.'

Liz half-laughed, half-choked, a near hysterical sound.

This was bad, so utterly bad. Someone, or something, had snuck into their room, and found the journals despite only two people in the world, including her, knowing where they were. She didn't understand why they hadn't taken the other two, but the one they had was bad enough, because she hadn't held anything back. Somewhere out there, someone was reading the intimate, and alien, details of their lives, and all they could do was pray that they didn't use that information to expose or kill them.