Okay, here's the new chapter. Sorry it took so long, but school has just been crazy and with my stepdad in the hospital for chemo, I just haven't had the time. Which is why this chapter is also a bit shorter than usual, but I hope you'll like it anyway.

Chapter Ten

La Théorie De L'Evolution

The Evolutionary Theory

Only one more day to go before I'm on a plane to Paris. I can't wait, I've already decided which courses I'm going to take and I've been planning which sites I'm going to visit. The Eiffel Tower, of course and I can't wait to see the Louvre. Luckily I've got tomorrow off from school to pack and get some extra sleep in, since I have to be at the airport at five A.M., which means I have to leave here at three. Michael's already agreed to drive me, since he's got the five to one shift at Metachem and he has Saturdays off. My parents did offer to drive me, but my dad has to open the Crash that day and things between my mom and I are still a bit strained, so a two hour car ride before a ten hour plane ride wasn't exactly something I looked forward to.

Unfortunately, today is still Thursday afternoon and I have to work. Not that I mind really, in a few hours Michael and Isabel will come back, bringing their wayward brother back to Roswell and, I fear, back in my life as well, so the lunch rush is a welcome distraction.

"Hello Lizzie! How's my favorite waitress doing today?" Kyle asks me as he takes a seat at the bar.

"I'm alright, I suppose, a bit worried about Max coming back. I'm glad I'm leaving for a week tomorrow." I say as I pour him a complementary milkshake, he nods his head in understanding, before raising his glass to me in thanks.

"I think we're all a bit worried about that. I kind of liked it when he wasn't here. There was certainly a lot less drama going on." He tells me before taking some notebooks out of his bag.

I frown in confusion. "Your doing your homework here? I thought you didn't like that, you said it was too noisy."

"It is, but dad's home and he's been insufferable lately. And if I have to choose between the noise of people eating or my father's ranting, the Crash will win it everyday."

"Why is he so upset, then?" I ask as I ignore my father's gestures for me to get back to work. I'm on my break and Agnes is outside smoking for the fourth time in an hour, he can go ask her.

"You know about that homicide victim those hikers found in the desert almost a week ago?" He asks before taking another sip of his strawberry milkshake.

"Yeah, they wrote a story about it in the paper."

"Well, the body was still found in Roswell jurisdiction, so my dad was heading up the investigation. Then three days ago some people from some three letter agency arrive at the station. Apparently the guy worked for some secret government operation or something and they took over the case. Dad's been trying to stay involved, you know, make sure that this hasn't got anything to do with anything Martian. He doesn't want another agent Pierce on his hands. But the guy heading up the investigation won't tell him anything."

"Well, I can see his frustration." I say with a sigh, an uneasy feeling settling in my stomach as I remember agent Pierce. "Is there any indication that it's got something to do with the Czechoslovakians?"

He shakes his head while he empties his glass. "No, but dad just wants to make sure, you know, especially now his Royal Stupidity is coming back."

I want to ask him something more about the case, but I'm stopped when my dad comes over telling me my break's over.

With a sigh I pick up a moderately clean towel to start wiping down the now vacant tables. "Look if it's too noisy here you could go study in my room. My mom's upstairs, but I'm sure she won't mind."

"Really? Oh that'd be great, Liz. Thanks." He says in relief as he packs up his stuff and goes upstairs.

I go back to working. Only 34 hours to go.

--

I sigh as I look at the clock on the wall. Eight P.M. Michael called about an hour ago, saying that there'd been an accident on the freeway and they'd been in traffic most of the way, but that they'd be home in about an hour and a half. It's slow right now and waiting for my friends to drop by seems to make time go more slowly than usually.

I'm just about to make a sundae for myself when a new customer walks through the doors. It's a man in his late forties, I'm guessing. His hair's mostly brown, but the sideburns are already turning gray. His smile is too wide and his teeth are too straight and too white, he's slightly overweight and wearing a suit that just screams G-man. I instantly don't like him.

"Evening, little lady." He says to me as he takes a seat at the counter. If I didn't like him before, I certainly don't like him now. Little lady, what am I, his dog?

But of course the customer is king, so I put on the brightest smile I can manage as I politely ask him if he wants to order anything.

"I'll have a coffee and a slice of that delicious lookin' pie, please." He says as he points to the dish that used to hold Mrs. DeLuca's famous home baked pies, but now just holds an apple crumble from the bakery down the street, since Amy is still in New York with Maria.

"Coming right up." I say as brightly as I can. For some reason this guy makes me feel uneasy. Or maybe that's just me being paranoid, maybe since we haven't had any real alien emergencies and everything seems to be going well in my life I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I hand Mr. G-Man his coffee and pie. "I haven't seen you around here before, sir. Are you just passing through?"

"Oh, no. I'm here to investigate that murder out in the desert. The man was a government official, so it's now a federal case." He says before shoving a huge piece of pie in his mouth.

"From what I've read your little town has had quite a few serious incidents these last few years." He mentions a few minutes later as I refill his coffee cup. The statement immediately makes me feel on edge. What is he getting at?

"I don't think so, sir. This has been the first murder I've heard about since I've lived here."

"Well there were those human remains that were found last year not far from here, they indicated that the man had been murdered." G-man says as he takes a sip of his coffee, never taking his eyes of my face, as if he's testing me to see how I'll react.

I try to keep my face as blank as possible while I answer. "Those remains proved to be centuries old."

"How do you know about that?" I feel my heartbeat increase as his voice took on a more suspicious tone.

I shrug. "They examined the remains in Las Cruces, not far from here. We don't really get a lot of big stories in our town, so the local paper had a field day with this." I feel myself relax as he seems to buy my story.

"And there was a shoot-out right here in this place sometime before that, wasn't there?"

I nod. "Yes, but nobody was hurt."

"Right, what about that car crash not long ago. I heard some kid died."

I stiffen at the mention of Alex' death. I really don't want to talk about this, especially not with some man I hardly know. "His name was Alex Whitman. He was my best friend." I say in clipped tones, making it perfectly clear that that's all that's going to be said on that subject.

"I'm sorry." He says and for the first time his expression seems genuine. "I've lost men before myself, overseas, I know what it's like."

Yeah sure you do. I bet you know what it's like to find out that your best friend was killed by your ex-boyfriend's girlfriend.

"Well, I'd better be going." He says as he looks at his watch before standing up to put some money down on the counter.

"It was nice to meet you…" He asks as he extends his hand to me.

"Liz." I finish as I take his hand.

He smiles as he shakes it. "Special Agent Thomas Rodes." He answers, but I can barely hear it. From the moment I took his hand, my entire world started to spin on it's axis. Everything went black and the noise from the diner went away, the only thing left the sounds of bullets fired and helicopters, bombs falling and men screaming.

It doesn't end until he releases me. I'm so shocked at what's just come to pass that I don't return his shallow "Bye then.". It takes just about all the energy I've got left to walk over to a booth and sit down. There's only one thought on my mind.

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?

--

I didn't mention anything about my strange and frankly terrifying experience to Michael or Isabel when they arrived forty-five minutes later. They looked so tired and worn down that I didn't want them to have to worry about me as well.

Besides, I have no idea what happened myself. I'd be inclined to blame the 'hallucination' on my serious lack of sleep if I hadn't been around aliens for so long. I don't know what's going on with me, but still, it didn't happen again for the rest of the night and that agent certainly set my nerves on edge. Maybe I'm just losing it, maybe not, but until I know what happened I don't want to bother my friends, especially since I'm leaving in a few hours.

If it happens again while I'm away, then I'll tell them.I think to myself as I watch Michael haul an empty suitcase onto my bed.

"So, how is Max handling his first day back?" I ask as I start to pack my newly bought sweaters. Roswell doesn't exactly require a winter wardrobe, but apparently Paris is still quite chilly this time of year.

Michael shrugs as he watches me pack. "Don't know. Didn't really bother asking Iz when I saw her this morning. But I know he had to report for community service first thing this morning. Do you want me to pack anything for you?"

I shake my head. "No, I know exactly what to bring, it's easier if I just do it." I say as I lay out my favorite jeans to wear on the plane and I dump two other pair in my suitcase.

"Okay, then why did you ask me to help you pack if you're not going to let me pack anything?"

"I don't need you to help me pack, I need you for what comes after the packing." I say as I go to get my toiletries out of the bathroom.

He looks confused now. "What's that then?"

"Trying to get my suitcase shut." I say. He laughs as he looks at the mounting heap of clothing now protruding form it.

"What about when you're in Paris, who's going to get it closed then? Maybe you should just bring less clothes, Lizzie. You're only going for a week for crying out loud."

"There are boys at the university too, you know. I'm sure one of them would be happy to help me if I asked."

His face clouds over with something I can't really identify. Protectiveness? Or jealousy? No, can't be. This is Michael, he doesn't get jealous, not because of me anyways.

"You shouldn't let someone else pack your suitcase, Liz. What if they slip something in it? What if they use you as a drug mule?" I can tell by his voice that he already knows that that sounds ridiculous.

"Yeah, Michael, because the France – America drug trafficking business is just such an issue these days." I say, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Oh shut up." He says as he throws one of my pillows at my head with laughter in his voice.

--

I saw Max today. My parents asked me to go on a supply run for them, more like guilt-tripped me into it, actually. Honey, please. We're already going to be so busy when you're gone. Not that I really minded. Michael had to go back to school as soon as I was done packing since his free period was almost over and I was way too wired to do anything really productive anyway.

I was driving towards Las Cruces when I spotted him, along with the rest of his community service group, cleaning up trash by the guardrail. It was the first time that I didn't see Max as a threat (though that may have been, because I was safely seated inside a car), he didn't look angry, as I've seen him look most of the time before he left. In fact, he looked a little sad, lost even and even though I hated to admit it, I felt a little sorry for him.

I know I can't keep avoiding him forever, even though I wish I could. But he is Isabel's brother and she's one of my best friends, we're bound to run into one another. And as I saw him there, looking more like the nice boy I knew than the scary alien king that he had been lately, I began to wonder if things could ever go back to normal.

I wish things could sometimes. I wish that I could just turn back the clock and that everything would be okay again, but I can't. Maybe one day a long time form now I'll be able to be in the same room with Max during holidays or birthdays and talk to him like he's a friend. But I know things won't ever go back to the way they were between us. Forgive and forget sounds all nice and easy, but it really isn't. Someday, maybe, when I see some remorse for what he did to me, to his siblings, to his friends, then maybe I can forgive him eventually. But forgetting isn't an option. Max proved to all of us that it isn't Michael who has a violent streak inside him, it's Max and no matter how much time passes I don't think I can ever stop watching him to see if it comes out again.

--

"So have you got everything you need? Ticket, passport? Someone is picking you up in Paris, right? And you better call me the moment you get there." He says as we stand in front of the check-in counter.

"Yes, mom." I say with a laugh while I roll my eyes, even though I find his concern for me quite endearing.

I pull him into a hug. "I'll see you in a week. I'll even bring you back a tacky Eiffel Tower statue, how's that?"

He snorts. "Gee, thanks. That's something I've always wanted." I smack him playfully against his back at his sarcasm.

"I'm going to miss you, Liz." He says as he hugs me a little tighter.

"I'm going to miss you too." I say before kissing him on the cheek and walking towards the gate.

Paris here I come.

I'm entering examweek here and after that I'm going to study in New York for two weeks, so I won't be updating for at least three week, but I hope to update sooner after that. Happy holidays!