Title: Time After Time
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
Author's note: So, so, so sorry for the delay. I actually had this written a while ago, but then I was out of town and therefore didn't have access to internet or a computer.
Chapter Twelve: What Comes of Death
Jim Valenti parked his car on the side of the road next to the old factory and jumped out hurriedly. He slammed the door shut, but didn't bother to lock the car. Instead, he turned towards the building, scanning it for any signs of life. Through the dimly lit night, he saw four figures emerging from shadows. Two were walking hurriedly ahead, looking all around as though hunting for other enemies. Another one was walking slowly, limping almost, leaning heavily on the fourth.
He ran forward. "Tess!"
He saw her look up at the sound of his voice and freeze. Max, who was supporting her, turned and whispered something to her, and she nodded slowly. Michael and Isabel paused as well, but still continued to guardedly observe the area around them, hunting for enemies.
"Jim," Tess said weakly, her voice filled with exhaustion.
He pushed past Michael and Isabel and stopped in front of his daughter. Reaching forward, he pulled her away from Max. "Are you okay?"
"Mm…" Tess answered quietly, closing her eyes for a moment. "I'm fine, Jim."
"Come on, I'll take you home," he said Glancing over Tess' head towards Max, he asked, "Is it safe? Are there still… enemies… looking for her?"
"Not right now," Max answered. His gaze shifted to Isabel, then he said, "She's safe, for now. Whitaker won't be a threat to anyone anymore."
"Whitaker?" Jim asked, shocked. The New Mexico Senator was involved in all this?
"Yeah…" Max frowned, thinking. "Izzy, you need to return to the birthday party so that people don't start asking questions. When you're there, can you ask Liz if she can get us into the Crashdown after the party? We need to talk about this… about what we learned."
Isabel nodded dumbly. After a moment, she found her voice and said, "Yeah… sure." Her mind was still on other thoughts, and she couldn't get Whitaker's words out of her mind. She found herself silently thankful that the others had not heard Whitaker's proclamation about her past-self's loyalties.
"Tess," Max said, interrupting Isabel's thoughts, "you should go home. We can fill you in on everything that happens at the meeting later."
Surprisingly, the petite hybrid did not protest Max's decision. She just shrugged, a movement that made her wince slightly, and said, "Sure."
"I thought you healed her," Michael interrupted, studying Tess in concern. "Why is she still in pain?"
"Whitaker just tried to beat her to death!" Isabel hissed. "She's bound to be a little sore, even if Max did heal her."
"Yeah, I know, but…" Michael started, but Tess cut him off sharply.
"Guys, stop talking about me like I'm not standing right here listening to you."
Isabel looked slightly abashed, but Michael didn't seem phased by her comment. She glared at him, and he raised his eyebrows, but neither said anything.
Max interrupted the silence. "I'm going to go back with Tess just to make sure their house isn't being watched." Whitaker hadn't been working alone, and it was possible that there were others out there, ready to attack Tess once they realized that the senator had failed at her task.
"There won't be," Isabel said, suddenly remembering that Max didn't know anything about what had transpired during the fight. "Whitaker wasn't after Tess, she was after me."
"What?"
Isabel nodded glumly. "She told me that she had thought Tess was me… That's why she took her."
"But why did she want you?" Max asked, his expression darkening in worry and fear. He didn't like the idea that his sister had been a target for the enemies. Then again, he reminded himself, how was that any worse than believing that Tess was the target?
Isabel swallowed nervously, looked Max straight in the eye, and lied, "I don't know."
"Okay, Michael go to the party with Isabel. I'll go back with the Sheriff and Tess. I don't think it is a good idea for any of us to be alone right now," Max ordered tersely. "We will meet up at the Crashdown as soon as the party is over." He handed his car keys to Isabel and turned away, following Tess and Jim towards the Sheriff's car.
Isabel watched him go with a strange look on her face. "When did he start giving orders again?"
Michael slid his arm over her shoulders and directed her back towards Max's car. "Around the same time one of us almost died," he answered simply, his eyes still resting on Tess' stumbling figure as she walked further and further away from them.
Liz was the first to spot Isabel returning to the party. The tall hybrid slipped into the room and let her gaze wander over all the dancing students. She'd changed into a completely different outfit, and her hair, once perfectly styled, was messy and damp with sweat.
Liz pushed her way through the crowd. She appeared at Isabel's side and caught her by the elbow, asking a one word question, "Tess?"
"She's fine," Isabel replied. "We… we're all fine." She ran a hand through her hair and exhaled slowly, wearily. "We need to meet as soon as the party is over. Max wants to know if you can get us into the Crashdown."
"Sure," Liz agreed readily. She paused, then asked diffidently, "Where is Max?"
"He's taking care of stuff," Isabel answered, obviously distracted. She'd finally managed to locate Alex in the crowd, and he was pushing towards her, his face filled with questions.
"Hey," he said when he reached the two girls.
"We need to stay here until the end of the party," Isabel ordered instantly. "We don't want to draw attention to our absence."
"Uh… okay," Alex said, surprised by the fear in her voice. He was about to ask for more details when Chris appeared next to him, looking expectantly at Isabel.
"Where's Tess?" he asked. "I thought she was with you?"
"Yeah… she, uh…" Isabel stopped, flustered. She didn't really know what to say, she hadn't through it through clearly. Michael was still outside, having opted to wander around the house once just to make sure there weren't any more evil aliens waiting to attack. She thought it was paranoid, but he had insisted, so she'd entered the party alone. And that left her with the task of coming up with the details for their cover story, something she wasn't so sure she could do right now.
Alex, however, stepped in instantly. "She and Isabel ran into some crazy guy when they went outside to get some air," he explained to Chris. "The guy was drunk or high or something, and he tried to hurt Tess." It was close enough to the truth that he doubted the lie would be spotted and far enough away from the truth that no one would start wondering about aliens.
"Is she okay?" Chris asked, suddenly worried. "Where is she? Is she upstairs?"
"She's fine," Alex continued. "She was just a little shaken up. Isabel took her home."
"But she's okay?" Chris pressed, turning to Isabel.
"Yeah, she's fine," Isabel said, shooting Alex a grateful look as she found her voice once again. "She wanted me to tell you that she's sorry she had to leave early. You should stay and have a good time." Chris looked hesitant, but Isabel nodded once to emphasize her point, and he sighed and wandered back into the crowd.
"Quick thinking," Liz complemented with a thin smile.
"Yes, it was," Isabel agreed. Alex blushed slightly, clearly embarrassed by the praise. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked away instead.
"Where's Michael?" Liz asked.
"He's scoping out the house to make sure we're not being stalked or anything," Isabel answered honestly. "Where's Maria?"
"Kitchen, I think." Liz glanced over her shoulder. "Come on, we can go back there and fill her in."
Isabel wandered after Liz and Alex, still thinking about the events of the evening. She knew, very soon, she'd have to make a decision about whether or not to inform Max and the others about Whitaker's words. She had lied once, could she do it again? Or should she come clean? She knew they wouldn't hold it against her, what she had done in a past life. But she just didn't want to tell any of them, to reveal this less than pleasant part of her past life.
She thought, also, of Max. His change tonight had been startling and swift. He'd gone from diffident and unsure to a demanding leader almost instantaneously. And although she could not deny that his change had helped to save all their lives, and that it was certainly not unwelcome… it still concerned her. Had he really gotten over everything that had happened? Or was this just temporary, and would he sink back into the silent despair that had plagued him for most of the summer once this was over?
"Hey, Dad!" Kyle rushed into the house, slamming the door shut behind him as he frantically looked around for his father. "Dad!"
Jim came hurrying out of the kitchen, a half-drunk glass of orange juice in one hand. "What? What's wrong?"
"At the party, I ran into Chris and he said that some psycho guy tried to hurt Tess," Kyle said, out of breath. "Is she okay?"
"Yeah," Jim said, blinking in surprise. He assumed that the aliens had known what they were doing, spreading a rumor like that, but still… what if someone found out the truth? "She's just a little shook up. She's in her room."
Kyle let out a sigh of relief. "Oh… okay. I was worried."
Jim cracked a small smile. "Yeah, I noticed." He nodded to the door. "You practically tore that thing off its hinges."
"Yeah, well…" Kyle gave a sheepish shrug. "It's not every day you find out someone tried to hurt your sister." He turned and walked towards the hallway, heading to Tess' room to check on her himself.
Jim watched him go in silence. It might not be every day that a normal family found out someone tried to hurt their family member, but Tess was far from normal. He couldn't help but wonder how many times this had happened in the past, and how many times it would happen again in the future.
He looked down at the glass of orange juice and finished it all in one gulp. Walking back into the kitchen, he put the glass down in the sink and stared at the window. When Liz had called him, his heart had almost stopped beating. If Tess was always going to be in this type of danger, how was he going to deal with that? In some ways, he envied Philip and Diane Evans, envied them for all the things they didn't know.
"Kyle's acting sentimental. He came into the room and actually tried to give me a hug. I'm fearing for his sanity."
He turned and saw Tess standing in the door to the kitchen.
"Yeah, he was worried. I guess you got attacked by some random crazy person," Jim answered.
"Happens," Tess responded with a shrug. She hesitated a moment, then said, "You shouldn't have come out to the factory. You didn't know what was out there. It was too dangerous."
Jim stared at her. She'd said it so bluntly, so simply, as though there was no reason at all for him to come. But he could see the actual concern in her eyes, the fear.
He shrugged in return. "Yeah, well… you are my daughter." And he walked past her and out of the room.
The six of them silently took seats around the table in the Crashdown. Isabel, nervous and uneasy, sat back in her chair as though it might swallow her and take her away from this conversation. Alex slid into the seat next to her, laying his hand so that his fingers just barely touched against her own. She gave him a quick look, and he returned it with a reassuring smile.
Maria watched the exchange with interest, her eyes darting back and forth between the two. She then looked at Michael, who had taken a seat across from Isabel. When she and Alex had been dating at the very beginning of last year, he'd been kind and sweet and… loyal. Well… right up until he lied to her about the whole alien thing. But things with Michael were difficult and unpredictable and sometimes downright unpleasant. So why on earth did she like him this much?
Max pulled out the chair on the other side of his sister and sat down. Liz sat across from him, with Maria in between the brunette and her ex-boyfriend. The tension in the air was almost overwhelming, and the blonde waitress opted to break the uncomfortable silence quickly.
"So… what happened?"
All eyes turned to Isabel, who was the only one able to provide answers.
Isabel gave a little half-shrug. "I don't really know. I mean… Tess was kidnapped… by Senator Whitaker."
"Okay, but why would the Senator want Tess?" Maria asked.
"She didn't," Isabel answered softly. "She wanted me." She hesitated, then continued, "Or, rather, she wanted who I used to be. She didn't know which one of us it was, so she took Tess instead."
"How is Tess?" Alex asked.
Max answered the question, "She'll be okay. I healed her injuries. She just needs some rest." He didn't mention how badly she'd been beaten or that she hadn't fully recovered and was still weak and exhausted. Those details would only concern the others, and he saw no reason to worry the three humans any more than necessary.
"Why did Whitaker want you?" Alex asked.
"She's our enemy. She's an alien. She said she wanted…" Isabel stopped for a moment, then continued, "She wanted Vilandra. That is who I used to be."
"Vilandra?" Liz and Alex both said at the same time, looking up in sharp surprise.
"Does the name mean something to you?" Max asked, giving Liz a hard stare.
"I… I overheard Nicolas Crawford… he, uh… he runs Whitaker's campaign. He was talking to someone on the phone. Talking about how they needed Vilandra." She paused a little warily. "I thought it was a government project or something, so I asked Alex to look into it. He didn't find anything, though."
"The mayor is in on it, whatever it is," Michael said thoughtfully. "Tess and I, when we broke into his office, we found some notes on it. On the Vilandra Project."
"You broke into the mayor's office?" Maria demanded hoarsely. She had not heard of this particular event, and part of her was torn between fear that Michael could have gotten caught and frustration that he had taken Tess with him instead of her.
"Long story," Michael said dismissively. "The point is, the Mayor is probably an alien also."
"So… the mayor, one of our senators, and her campaign manager… we're surrounded by aliens," Liz said with a puzzled expression. "If they're all over the place, how come they never found you?"
"I don't think they're looking for all of us," Isabel answered. "Remember what Nasedo told us last year? Our enemies are after the Granolith. And, apparently, me."
"Yeah, but they still want us dead," Max argued. No matter how much they may want the Granolith, they clearly wanted the Royal Four out of the way as well. And he wasn't about to let anyone hurt his family.
"Oh…" Liz said suddenly, her face creasing in thought. "I just remembered something…" She jumped to her feet. "I'll be right back," she said hurriedly as she walked towards the back room.
Max watched her go with a confused frown, but then turned to Isabel and asked, "Did Whitaker say anything else before we got there?"
Isabel nodded. "She mentioned something about Nasedo… she thinks he is responsible for why we don't remember anything about our past lives. She thinks he's playing us, using us."
"He gave us the answers, though," Max countered, shaking his head.
"Not all of them," Michael pointed out dryly. "He's been less than forthcoming with quite a few details. And we always knew he couldn't be completely trusted. He's got his own agenda." He slanted a look at Isabel. "Did Whitaker say anything specific?"
"No… just that he tampered with everything so that we wouldn't remember…"
"He's using you," Alex said quietly, but with a firm tone. "Think about it. He's making you dependant on him. You went to him to help with Pierce and the FBI. You went to him for explanations about your past, your enemies, your gifts. He's made himself indispensable to you."
"So what do we do?" Maria asked harshly. "He killed the real Sean. We should have known not to trust him."
"He has answers," Max replied quietly, wincing as he saw Maria's anger flare in her eyes. "We still need the knowledge that he has. We still need his help."
"So he can kill you, too?" Maria shot back. "Hardly!"
"He doesn't know that he know this," Max mused contemplatively. "I say we pretend like we still trust him, and figure out a way to use that to our advantage."
"Um… guys?" Isabel cut in, "why are we actually trusting Whitaker? How do we know that she isn't just trying to turn against Nasedo? It could all be a lie." She wanted to believe it was a lie. She wanted to believe everything their enemy had said was a lie so that she could convince herself that she had never betrayed her brother and his family. Had she really gotten them all killed in a past life?
And was Whitaker right? Did history always repeat itself?
Max let out a frustrated sigh. "She's got a point," he conceded unwillingly.
Before the argument could continue any longer, Liz repeared, holding a note in one hand. She extended it to Max, who took it with a questioning look.
"I… um… I sort of broke into Whitaker's office at one point… and looked around…" She flushed a deep red as Maria and Alex gaped at her. Max, she knew, was glowering, but she refused to meet his eyes and stared instead at her two best friends. "I wanted to know if she was our enemy. Max had warned me that she might be involved in something…"
"So you broke into the office of a potentially dangerous enemy?" Max snapped.
"Well, it wasn't technically breaking and entering," Liz protested. "The door was unlocked."
"That's not the point," Max argued. "I specifically told you not to do anything stupid, and you went and…"
"I'm just trying to look out for you," Liz shot back, annoyed. "That's what friends do."
"Stop it," Isabel said suddenly, harshly. "Stop arguing. Maybe Liz was an idiot, but you can't go back and change what happened, so why don't we focus on the present. Or did you forget that there are apparently enemies all around us?"
Max looked slightly abashed by Isabel's comment, but he still shot one last angry look at Liz. Then he stared at the note she had given him.
A list of dates starting from 1950, corresponding with phrases or words.
"Look," Isabel said suddenly, pointing to one of the dates. "It says 'Signal.' That was from last May. It corresponds to the same day that we put that black device into the Granolith."
"Do you think it sent out a signal to them?" Michael asked curiously, leaning across the table to better see the wrinkled paper.
"Whitaker said it did," Isabel replied, glancing up at Michael. "She said that they had heard the signal, that's how they knew the Granolith was here."
"So… our enemies know where the Granolith is… or at least that it is near this town, some of them are apparently after Isabel, and we still have the issue of Nasedo's trustworthiness and the body the archeologist found in the desert to worry about…"
"Yeah," Alex said with a nod. "I think that pretty much sums it up."
"Izzy?" Max pushed open the door to her bedroom and stepped inside. They'd just returned home, apologizing profusely to their parents for being late, and blaming the party. Mr. Evans had been somewhat more suspicious than his wife, but they had both eventually let the matter slide and ordered their children to bed.
Isabel looked up from where she was sitting on her bed, running a brush through her hair. She'd changed into her pajamas, and had pulled a bathrobe over her shoulders. "Hey," she said softly.
He took a seat next to her. "You want to talk?" Isabel gave him a look, and he elaborated gently, "You look the way I felt after… after I killed Pierce."
"She wanted to kill us," Isabel said. "Or… well, she wanted to kill the three of you. She was hurting Tess and I… I just wanted to protect us. But I… I killed her." She looked down, trying in vain to wish away the burning tears in her eyes. "How do I justify that?"
"I don't know," Max answered honestly. "I'm sort of in the same boat." Pierce would have killed them all without a second thought, but did that make killing him first a justified solution?
Isabel gave a watery smile. "What if we have to kill again, Max? What if this doesn't get any better, any easier? What if it really is a war?"
"Then we will do whatever we have to," Max answered stoically. "We will protect ourselves and the people we love." He placed his hand over hers. "And we will do it together, as a family."
She looked up at him, at his trusting tawny eyes and the sincere faith in his expression, and felt her heart breaking inside her chest. How could she have ever betrayed him so much in a past life? How could she have done this to him? And why did she deserve his faith now?
In that moment, she resolved never to tell anyone about Vilandra's betrayal. It would be her secret, one that she would have to come to terms with on her own. But she simply couldn't burden anyone else with those truths. She had made this mess, and somehow, she would pull herself out of it.
"I heard she was attacked by a ex-convict! He came to the party and tried to kill her. She had to fight him off all on her own."
"Really? I heard he had a gun."
"No, it was a knife. And he was totally high on crack or something."
"That's because he was a drug dealer."
"No, he was sober. But he was running from the law, you know. An escaped felon. He wanted to take her as a hostage."
"Wow."
"I know, crazy, right?"
"And she fought him off?"
"I heard she had help."
"From who? I heard she was all alone when he tried to kill her. That's why he chose her, because she was an easy target."
"He didn't want her dead! He just wanted a hostage."
"Why?"
"Because he needed to negotiate with the CIA. He was running from them, you know."
Alex looked up in surprise, turning away from his locker as Tess stopped by his side. He certainly had not expected her to willingly speak to him at school, but when he looked around to see who she might have stopped for, he realized that he was alone.
"Uh… hi, Tess," he said, a little awkward. "How are you?"
Tess rolled her eyes in frustration and gestured around the half-empty hallway. "Everybody has been asking me how I'm doing," she complained. "Whatever rumors you guys started to cover my absence at the party this weekend, they've spiraled out of control."
Alex nodded, trying his best to appear unamused by her comment. He'd heard the circulating rumors also, they'd traveled so quickly that by the start of school that morning everyone seemed to have a different theory on what had happened… and it was only Monday. How much longer was this going to go on?
"Yes, I heard you were attacked by a escaped prisoner of the CIA. You were going to be his hostage." Alex smiled slightly, but noted that Tess' expression only grew darker.
"Yeah," she sighed, "or an ex-convict who wanted to kill me."
"Well, at least it is far enough away from the truth that nobody will suspect the reality of the situation," Alex pointed out. He shifted his backpack in his arms, wondering why Tess had sought him out. He doubted it was just to talk about the rumors.
"Have you spoken to Isabel?" Tess demanded.
"No," Alex replied. "At least, not today. I'll probably see her at lunch."
"Hmm… okay."
"Why?" Alex asked, suddenly worried. "Is she alright? Did something happen?" He'd spoken to her a few times since the party and Tess' abduction, and she'd seemed withdrawn and moody, but he just assumed that she was preoccupied with everything that had happened. It had been a stressful weekend for all of them, after all.
"I was kind of hoping you could tell me," Tess replied. She licked her dry lips and lowered her voice, "She's been acting strange, and I thought maybe she had told you whatever was bothering her."
Alex shook his head. "She hasn't said anything to me."
Tess sighed. "Alright… well… I guess just… keep an eye on her, okay? Just in case."
Alex blinked. He was a little confused as to why Tess was standing here, asking for his help in something related to Isabel. He was fairly certain that the petite hybrid only tolerated his presence because she was too lazy to torment him anymore. He knew that she still didn't like him, that none of Isabel's friends did. But here she was, asking for his opinion, asking for his help.
"I'll do that," Alex said softly.
"Hey, Tess," Chris said, coming up behind her and draping his arm over his shoulder. "What are you doing?" He gave Alex a curious look.
"Nothing," Tess answered quickly, turning away from Alex. "You heading to class?"
"Yeah," Chris replied, "you coming?"
Tess hesitated, glancing over her shoulder at Alex. She knew he was in class with her and Chris, and some part of her wanted to ignore him completely and walk away like she would have in the past. But…
Isabel liked him.
And Isabel had come rushing to save her, despite not knowing what the danger was, despite not knowing what was wrong in the first place. Isabel had heard her subconscious call and responded… because they were family.
It made her think of Jim, of the way he had looked at her when he reminded her that she was still his daughter, and he wasn't just going to leave her in danger. Family, she knew, made people do strange things.
Before she could really think through what she was saying, she had already started speaking.
"Are you coming?"
"Wh-what?" Alex stuttered.
"To class," Tess clarified, rolling her eyes. "Are you coming to class?"
"Um… sure." Alex slammed his locker shut and followed Tess and Chris through the hallway, unable to quite comprehend what had just happened.
Next Chapter: Not Over Yet
Due: Sun 4/6
