I don't own Roswell or any of its franchise.

Unbetaed, but if you see any glaring mistakes, please tell me so I can fix them. Thanks in advance.

A/N Sorry for the wait. A little shorter than usual, but it mostly deals with some of the outcome of the last few chapters. I hope you all enjoy!

Last time on TATT: The gang rescues Max and Liz from their torture; Maria gets shot and then saved. Pierce finally died and the Special Unit was completely destroyed.

CHAPTER TWENTYFIVE

Maria's POV

Maria stood next to a pale Liz, who was busy letting her parents fawn all over her and her broken arm. The Parker's had dropped whatever they'd been doing as soon as Liz made her way into the Crashdown with Maria and Alex trailing after her.

Maria stood silently by as Liz once again muttered their hastily made pre-planned story to her worried parents. "It was just a bad fall, you guys. It wasn't anything serious and Maria and Alex already took me to the hospital and I'm fine now. I just didn't want to go to school today though."

The tone was surprisingly lively and Maria was secretly impressed by her best friend's ability to lie, but unlike the Parkers, who immediately agreed that school was too strenuous that day, she recognized the subtle signs that Liz couldn't quite hide. Are you really as fine as you say you are Liz? You've been so quiet ever since we got to you; you just sat there in your own little world, not even noticing that the boy you're having feelings for was desperate to touch you.

The memory of Max's none too subtle attempts at staying near Liz at the breakfast table that Tess and Isabel had prepared when Maria stumbled out of the bed she'd shared with Michael, flashed through her mind and that inevitably caused her to remember everything that had happened and how it culminated with the abrupt pain in her chest and the panic she'd barely kept from sending out to Michael.

The hot blood gushing out of her without any resistance, the tears burning her cheeks as they slid uncontrollably down her skin, the growing desperation that she just couldn't seem to see the boy screaming out her name so intensely….

No, Maria shook her head and forced that particular incident out of her head, Max saved me and that's that. Stop thinking about it!

It took a little effort, but eventually Maria did what she did best; turned her ministrations into being a good friend instead of dealing with her own feelings. She followed a silent Liz up to her bedroom and as if they'd agreed already, both girls went into Liz's bathroom and got ready for a day of girl time.

They'd already called in sick at school when they'd woken up in Tess' place, and Mr. Parker had straight away called in two of his rarely used waitress' and more or less ordered Agnes in as well. Maria mentally snorted when she recalled the pale taint of the man's skin as he stuttered through that particular conversation before she put on one of Liz's pajamas and followed her best friend into her big bed where they proceeded to just lie silently next to each other.

Maria turned her head and found Liz staring unblinkingly up at her ceiling and the unfamiliar look in the other girl's usually so lively eyes caused Maria to reach out and clasp Liz's hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. "It's gonna be okay," she whispered.

Liz turned her head as well and met Maria's gaze softly, "Don't worry about me, Maria. I'm just trying to get it all right in my head for now. I should be concerned about you instead; you haven't exactly had the greatest couple of days yourself." At the end of the sentence, Liz's voice turned hoarse and her eyes swelled with tears.

"I could've lost my best friend and it would've all been my fault. I'm so sorry Maria!"

Next thing she knew, Liz had wrapped her arms around her and was all but sobbing into her neck. That more than anything broke Maria's steely resolve not to ponder about everything too much and soon the burning in her eyes had transformed into big, tears as well.

"Is this a private party or can anyone join?" Alex's voice startled the two girls and Maria sat up, still crying violently.

Liz's state of mind was still all over the place, because she instantly started apologizing to him as well and Maria just patted the bed and re-clasped Liz's trembling hand – a little afraid of the brunette's emotions seeing as Liz had never been the most emotionally driven girl in their relationship. "There's always room for you, you know that."

Ten minutes later, Alex had donned a pair of his sweats and a T-shirt that he had stashed in Liz's closet since this sleepover was far from the first one they'd ever participated in together.

With Alex there, Maria felt more at ease for some reason. He'd laid down in the bed with Liz still weeping and Maria hadn't been able to stop either and a few moments went by before Maria felt his calm envelope her like a blanket and she felt safe like she hadn't felt since getting out of the bed she'd shared with Michael that morning.

"We're gonna get through this," she muttered lowly as she gradually succumbed to an exhaustion that didn't feel completely natural, "as long as we're all okay, we're gonna make it through this."

Alex and a now much calmer Liz murmured their agreement sleepily and before she knew it, Maria fell into a peaceful slumber despite the fact that it was barely noon.

Tess' POV

Fear, anger, desperation and hate churned in her gut and made her react instinctively. His fear and hate burned itself into her as she somehow reached out and- NO!

Tess gasped as she jumped upwards from the couch where she'd managed to fall asleep after everyone had filed out of her house more or less awake earlier this, Tess glanced at the clock on the wall and grimaced, well, earlier this morning.

Judging from the dusk settling outside her living room window, she'd been asleep a lot longer than she'd anticipated and she wasn't surprised to feel the pain in her neck when she straightened her spine as she stood up fully.

The nightmarish dream came back to her as she wandered from the living room and into the kitchen to make herself a snack. She'd been dreaming about what had happened when she'd run into that hellish white room that had probably seen more blood than most prisons put together.

Pierce had just shot Maria and was re-aiming when Tess had let rage engulf her in a way she'd seldom, if ever, had experienced before. Before she knew what she was doing really, her hand had come up and she'd sent the most vicious illusion straight into Pierce's already overworked mind and even though it had seemed like his death had been instantaneous, Tess knew that he'd died screaming in agony over and over again in a hell solely created by her and for the life of her, she couldn't find it in her to feel guilty about it.

He almost killed one of my first ever friends, Tess rationalized as she mechanically poured some Tabasco sauce all over her peanut and jelly sandwich and started chewing. He tortured my first ever friend and I can't even begin to comprehend what he put Max through.

The image of the man she'd once married ran through her mind and Tess lost the last of her barely there appetite. Max had looked feral and judging from the dried and fresh blood on his person, he'd been through a lot while they'd scrambled around to prepare their rescue mission.

He looked so strong even when he was toppling over after healing Maria, Tess thought as she absentmindedly cleaned the dishes that no one had had the energy to do that morning, too occupied with her thoughts to even contemplate using her powers for the menial task. Him and the others aren't weakened at all by their human DNA like Nasedo used to say when he trained me. And neither am I.

Tess sighed and finished her task before deciding to go for a walk to clear out the memory of Pierce's death that kept playing at a loop inside her mind even as she thought about other things.

A half an hour later, Tess reached the town square and tiredly sat down on one of the benches placed there to gather the energy to get back home. She smiled a little at the thought that she actually considered the little house that her guardian had only bought as a cover to be her home these days.

"Things have gotten so messed up," she whispered into the night, closing her eyes tiredly.

"Tell me about it," a familiar voice said and Tess flinched as she recognized Kyle of all people in the middle of sitting down next to her. "Hey Tess." He nodded calmly and she had a brief moment to be thankful for the fact that for once he seemed to actually not hate her, before he spoke again.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you look like crap."

Rolling her eyes, Tess leaned back on the bench and just snorted. "Right, 'cause out of all of us I was the one that had to drink four cups of coffee this morning just to stay awake."

"I didn't sleep," Kyle pointed out, before chuckling a little when Tess' raised brow reminded him that neither did she. "Okay, fair point. So, I was actually looking for you."

Tess frowned, not really believing a word of what Kyle said, but before she could point that out, the human chuckled a little again, "Yeah, it sounds unbelievable I know. But," he smirked and for one moment, he looked just like the friendly guy, who'd been so welcoming to her, before she'd screwed things up by mindwarping him, "I'm actually here on the account of someone else."

"What do you mean?" Tess turned to look him closer in the eye and Kyle sighed before he replied quietly.

"Max wants us all back at your place as soon as possible; or…" he shrugged looking deceptively calm, which for some peculiar reason, Tess just knew that he wasn't, "Well, he just wants the four of you out-of-towners', really. He said something about needing the power of four for something."

"Wait," Tess bit her lip nervously as she mulled over that piece of information. "You're saying that Max and the others actually need me? They want to include me? But they don't trust me."

"After what we've been through together, Tess, I don't think that's a problem anymore. You proved you're not like you us…Like we thought." Tess had a feeling that he'd been about to say something massively different, but let Kyle believe that she didn't notice.

Instead, she simply snorted derisively, her earlier self-loathing suddenly reemerging at the thought of their little adventure in the Special Unit's department. "Oh yeah, I'm just super duper sweet and all it took for you people to really believe in me was me killing a man in cold blood."

Kyle's lips twitched as though he was going to smile of her and Tess lost her temper.

"You have no idea what I'm going through, right now, Kyle!" She yelled, standing up and facing him fully, "I killed a man and tortured him! And I would do it all over again and it's freaking me out. I miss Nasedo; at least he wouldn't smirk at me like I'm some little girl. I mean," Tess took at deep breath and continued, suddenly unable to keep everything bottled up anymore. "He might be completely crazy, but at least he knows what it feels like to take a life, Kyle. You and the others are not even capable of grasping what it's like! I hate that my life has turned into this mess and I'm starting to think that I'm just as evil as Nasedo is, 'cause I'd do it again in a heartbeat to protect my friends, so don't you dare laugh at me – especially since you hated my guts not that long ago!"

Sending a heated glare as she finished her tirade, Tess spun around and began walking back home. Her exhaustion now chased away by her anger she picked up the pace until she was running in a dead run.

Suddenly, though, Kyle was in front of her and stopped her by grasping her arms roughly and he shook her a little bit and then said hoarsely, "Tess; calm down! You've got everything mixed up, Girl. You're not evil for protecting us all; hell, I'm fucking proud of you for killing that son of a bitch when no one else could. Trust me, he's had it coming."

The feeling of Kyle's warm fingers on her skin, sent a spike of something unfamiliar through Tess, but she forgot about it, when she somehow ended up hearing him murmur, 'Congratulating her for being a murderer is something I'd never expected to do. What a fucked up life we live,' despite the fact that she was looking right at him and knew without a shadow of a doubt that he hadn't moved his lips.

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, Kyle instantly released her with a startled gasp and took a few steps back. "You heard that?" he asked, looking decidedly pale all of the sudden.

"Yeah. What's going on, Kyle? I thought only we could do that."

"Forget about it, Tess." Kyle was suddenly all tense and didn't look her in the eyes anymore and for some reason that got to Tess more than anything else, so she just took a deep breath and screamed her anger out – not caring that beside her, several of the windows of the parked cars on the lot suddenly exploded into a million pieces.

"Tess!" Kyle's voice reached her as if far away, but she didn't care and just kept on howling like a mad woman. Until, suddenly Kyle's warm hands were on her face and the next thing she knew his soft lips slanted over hers in a bruising kiss that froze her solid from the inside out even as several unfamiliar emotions seemed to burst out through her skin and into his.

How long she stood there with Kyle, Tess didn't know, but suddenly she was alone and feeling bereft like a big part of her was missing. She caught a glimpse of Kyle's hastily retreating form in the distance and unbeknownst to her, the two of them were holding a hand on the same spot on their torso, just above the navel and sharing the same thought of, "what the hell was that?"

Max's POV

Max pulled up to Tess' place with Michael, Isabel and Kathleen in his jeep. The sun was down and there was an edgy silence in the car that didn't seem to want to go away, despite the fact that only just that morning, they'd all been a lot less stiff after their dramatic adventure.

I guess people have had time to process everything a bit more now, Max decided, turning off the ignition with a soft, weary sigh that sent a shiver of pain up his side. He'd been asleep ever since coming back home that morning, lying next to an equally worn out Isabel, so he hadn't had time to heal himself yet. Fortunately their parents had already left for work, so no explanations as to their unusual state had to be made.

Somehow I don't think they'd react all that well to my current appearance so hopefully I'll still have some powers left after we're done here tonight, Max thought and glanced briefly at himself in the rearview mirror. He had a black eye and several cuts and bruises on his skin that Max knew from his quick shower earlier went all the way down his body with a lot of bigger gashes from those damnable scalpels that Pierce's goons seemed to favorite.

Max blinks out of his thoughts when Isabel opens the door to the passenger seat and tries not to dwell on the insistent memories of his experience that's clawing around on the edge of his mind. Besides, Max thought as he too vacated the jeep, reaching out a hand to support Kathleen, who was still looking like she could use a week's worth of sleep and serenity, I've been through much worse than this. It's not like it was my first time being tortured…

Max shook his head as he recalled with a sinking heart that unlike him though, Liz hadn't been through this kind of thing before and understandably she was shaken by the whole experience.

It's like she went into herself and doesn't feel safe to come out yet, Max pondered, following Michael's lead as he walked up to Tess' front door. She barely spoke a word, not even when I woke up with my head in her lap.

The bond hadn't been much help, too overfilled with echoes of fear, anger, guilt and pain to make much sense at all. Max honestly didn't know where his emotions began and Liz's ended and ever since he'd driven her and Maria back to her place that morning, the bond had been almost completely silent and it was making him more and more nervous.

"Maxwell, get inside before you attract attention from the neighbors," Michael's order brought Max back to the present and he hurried to comply, ignoring the stab of pain his quick movement cost him.

Once inside the living room, Tess was eying them all with a mixture of curiousness and anxiousness and Max found himself frowning a bit at the odd look in her eyes. She seemed like she'd repeatedly walked into a wall and didn't quite know how to stop doing it.

With a sigh, Max put it out of his mind, deciding to take a moment later to talk privately with her; if for nothing else, than at least to thank her for eliminating Pierce when he'd been unable to. Then he carefully straightened himself up as much as his injuries allowed and started speaking.

"Thank you Tess for letting us use your place for this even if you have no idea what it is yet." Tess' lip turned into a small smile and Max continued with a look at Isabel and Michael, who was sitting with a creepy silent Kathleen between them, "I've talked this over with Kathleen earlier and we all agree that she deserves to get her life back and that's where you come in."

Tess' brow furrowed deeply, "me? What can I do?"

"It's pretty obvious if you think about it," Isabel spoke up, staring with a surprising amount of friendliness at the curly haired hybrid, who'd stiffened at her words.

"You…you want me to mindwarp her?" She raised a hand in Kathleen's direction without looking away from Isabel. "You out of everyone have always been disgusted with my power and now you want me to actively use it? I've gotta admit to being pretty damn confused here."

"Kate deserves peace of mind," Michael spoke up, nodding at the still quiet F.B.I. agent. "She's been through a lot of crap lately and I'm not just talking about your psycho guardian going all postal on her, but Pierce too. We can't mindwarp, but you can so if you'd be kind enough to help us out, it'd be cool."

"But," Tess hesitated and Max had never been more sure that this young girl was nothing like the Tess he'd once believed himself to care for, "I don't know if it'll hold. And I don't want to risk losing the ground I've gained with you all by not doing what you want well enough."

"We're going to join hands and send you some of our strength," Max soothed softly at the sight of genuine anxiety in her eyes. "It'd be like what we did when I healed you. Our powers intensify if we meld them together. We can't do this properly without you Tess."

Tess bit her lip, which Max idly noticed was a bit swollen and he worried that she'd been cooped up all day biting her lips over what she'd done to Pierce, but chose not to comment on it.

"I do want to help, don't get me wrong, but what should I make you forget and what do you want to remember?" Tess directed her questions at Kathleen, who blinked once and answered almost inaudibly.

"I just want a normal life."

"Okay," Tess agreed and looked around the others for help. "What happens next?"

Max smiled with relief, since he'd originally been the one to convince the undercover agent to hold on so fervently to her belief that they could all be trusted, it meant a lot to him to be able to repay her for her assistance. Also, Max thought gravely, if I can't help Liz out with her bad memories, at least Kathleen will regain some peace of mind…

He gingerly turned to his side where he'd carefully set down the bag he'd been carrying and opened it to reveal some very familiar healing stones. "We use these."

Tess' lips parted before they transformed into a much more confident smile. "Okay then; let's start."

It took about ten minutes or so to set things up and sit down in a circle with Kathleen poised in the middle, looking rather forlorn and insecure and yet, Max could also spot some of that steely resolve in her that he knew had helped carry her through the last few hellish months of her life.

You helped me, he thought intently; filled with gratitude, now let us help you as much as we can.

"Each of you place one hand on the stone placed in front of you," Isabel ordered softly and continued, "and the other one should be on Kathleen's skin. You'll have to take off your sweater," she added gently to the agent.

"All right," Kathleen nodded and quickly did as she was told. Max held in a small gasp at the sight of scars on her body; scars that were similar to the fresh wounds on his own body. "Let's get this done before I lose my nerve."

Max sent her a small smile and reached out as the first one to touch her bare arm, squeezing it at first in a silent show of support. The older woman's answering smile warmed him and a moment later, Tess, Michael and Isabel had placed their hand on her as well, distracting their little moment.

"You have to look at me," Tess' voice rang through the suddenly eerily silent room and Max closed his eyes when the stones slowly began to glow more and more, nearly blinding him and instead he concentrated on sending out as much power as he could to help Tess solidify her mindwarp completely.

The tension in the room build up to a nearly painful level and Max knew privately that he was sending way more energy into Kathleen's mindwarp than he could really afford to spare in his condition, but he didn't care; too focused on healing at least one woman's horrible memories to the best of his abilities. He could feel some of that power beginning to heal all of her scarring and bruising and tried sending even more to her in case the healing required more.

Suddenly, Kathleen began to scream and Max quickly opened his eyes again to watch Tess catapult forward and grasp the human woman's head firmly in her hands, keeping the small healing stone in constant contact with her own skin as well; "You have to endure it, Kate," Tess hissed breathlessly, "I'm nearly finished. Just. One. More. Second!" She screamed out the last word and the next thing Max knew, he was being slammed backwards into the wall by an invisible force field that seemed to expand from the two females in the middle of their little circle and then just as he realized that his agonizing injuries had reopened, everything went blissfully black.

0o0o0

"You are without a doubt the most stubborn man, I've ever met." Her voice was hard and rough, but the shine of unshed tears in her brown eyes gave her away.

Max grinned weakly, "Technically, I'm not exactly a man." She rolled her eyes and he winced when he tried chuckling at her. She was immediately by his side, helping him upright as he began coughing.

"I really wish we had people that could do what you do, healing wise." She muttered, stroking his hair; the only part of his body that didn't ache or burn at all. "This was really too close, Max."

"Liz…" Gently lying back down on the makeshift bed, Max sighed heavily. "I couldn't let him win and he'd have won if I'd let him take Michael and Eric. He's always been really interested in those damn kids and their powers, you know that and-"

Liz interrupted, her mouth set in a firm line now that he seemed to have regained his breath. "You don't always have to be the one to save us, Max. You may be the strongest power wise, but that doesn't mean that we aren't all prepared to die for what we believe in just like you."

The thought of losing her pierced his already aching chest and disregarding his wounds, Max sat back up and took her too skinny face in his nail less hands. "You, Liz Parker-Evans aren't allowed to die. I wouldn't be able to bear it."

"How do you think I feel about you being trapped and hurt like that, Max?" Her voice quavered and one lone tear ran down her gaunt face that to him was still the most beautiful visage in the world. "I won't lose you if I can help it. You've already suffered so much, and I love you too much to stand idly by another time. I won't do it again, Max, no matter what you say."

Max nodded in solemn respect for her words, but inwardly he knew that he'd rather let himself be killed than let his wife die for him. It just wouldn't happen.

"I love you, Liz." He tried distracting her, but to his mild surprise, Liz copied his move and grabbed a gentle hold of his bandaged face and stared at him for a long minute.

"I will not lose you to this war, I swear it Max Evans; I love you too much. Trust me on that…"

There was a pounding in his head and his heart was beating way too fast, but Max couldn't rip himself out of what he knew to be a memory; he tried and tried with all his might, because he knew that whenever he dreamt about that moment between him and Liz, another one always followed, a darker, much more mocking one…

"Max!"

Her voice was frantic and hoarse, as if she'd screamed his name over and over again; but he still thought it was the most precious sound in the world. And hearing it now scared him more than anything he'd ever felt and all he wanted was to get out of his restraints to somehow get her out of here.

"L-Liz," he gurgled her name, the blood from the newest beating he'd taken spilling out of his mouth and he cursed his weakness.

"He's dreaming, Michael." Isabel's voice sounded close by, overlying the sounds of battle and Liz's cries for him, but still, Max couldn't get out of his own mind.

Michael's voice was right next to him and Max could even feel his friend's breath on his face when he replied to his sister, "He's spent too much juice, Iz. He was bound to crash sometime. I've seen this before and he won't wake up unless he's in physical pain."

Pain, oh excruciating ache; someone was carrying him away from the place where Liz had died for him and he couldn't do anything. "Liz!" Her name was all his abused throat could manage and he clawed weakly at whomever it was that was keeping him from running back inside and somehow undoing what had just happened.

"Looks like he's hurting with all those wounds," another voice echoed over Max's nightmare and he was grateful that he was a little distracted from reliving the worst memory of his entire existence.

"Fuck it – I'm waking him up," Michael's old impatience seemed to break through and suddenly the mental agony Max was reluctantly reliving was being overwritten with some very real pain that sliced through one of his not yet healed gashes. Vaguely, Max knew that his brother in all but blood had ripped the wound open and pinched it harshly and even though it hurt like hell, he was still grateful.

"ARGH!" That didn't mean it didn't hurt though.

"Max!"

Gasping for air, Max sat up, clenching his hands over Michael's that were still on his now very fresh injury, subconsciously stopping him from bringing him more pain. He felt the nightmare slowly trickle away into that corner of his mind that was reserved for thoughts of his old life and exhaled carefully in relief – he was back in his own body again, so to speak.

"Help me get up, please," he looked at Michael and ignored the two pale faces of the female hybrids standing around him. As Michael's strong arm slowly helped Max back on his feet, he had to lean most of his weight on him because everything started spinning and it took him awhile to gain his equilibrium back.

"When you get home tonight," Isabel stated, wrapping one arm around him and enveloping him with her familiar scent of flowers and well…her, "we're going straight back to bed and you won't leave until you've gotten all of your energy back."

"That will only happen after I've talked with Liz," Max said, but quickly agreed to his smothering sister's demands before turning his attention back on the still form of Kathleen, who was lying unconscious on the floor where he'd last seen her.

"So how do we do this? I hadn't really expected her to go down like that, so we need a plan to smuggle her into her apartment without getting noticed." Even as he said the words, Max knew that once again they'd be relying on Tess' powers and he couldn't help but laugh inwardly at it all. Just a few days ago, they'd all greatly despised her ability to mindwarp and now they were beginning to use it more and more just like they had in their original timeline.

Well, at least I'm pretty sure this time that she's not a backstabbing murderer, Max thought as he nodded to Tess, who'd volunteered to help with getting Kathleen back home.

0o0o0

The birds were beginning to chirp outside his window, and Max could see the dawn inching closer by the minute from his place next to Isabel's sleeping form in his room. Unlike his sister, he'd been unable to get much sleep after they'd all somehow managed to sneak Kathleen into her bed and leave undetected.

He was bone tired, but every time he started dozing off, an image of Liz's terrified face woke him right back up and he was at the end of his rope. With a sigh, he got out of the bed and swallowed back a wince when his abused ribs protested the movement. He glanced at the mirror that hung in the hallway and closed his eyes to measure how much energy he had managed to get back from his sort of rest.

There's enough for me to take care of some of these annoyances, Max decided and swept his now glowing hands over his naked upper body, closing up cuts and vanishing bruises as he went. His ribs groaned internally before there was a silent pop and the soreness disappeared.

Max decided against using the rest of his meager powers to heal his bruised face, promising to use an excuse of being in a fight if anyone bothered to ask.

Now feeling a lot more human so to speak, Max quickly showered and put on some clean clothes and he staggered down to the kitchen to grab something to eat, knowing that his use of powers would come back to haunt him soon if he didn't.

Finally, after quickly choking down some hastily made breakfast, Max wrote a quick note to his sister before running to the jeep to go to Liz's house. He just really needed to make sure she was all right because with each passing minute, Max's feeling of unease from her side of their connection seemed to expand and he was filled with stress and worry by the time he pulled into the parking lot behind the Crashdown.

She feels like she's completely shut down, Max realized when he gracefully climbed up to the small terrace in front of Liz's room. Not that I blame her of course, she's not able to handle these things like us who've already lived through it once and- whoa!

Max froze in surprise, barely refraining from letting his instinct sending out a blast to attack the one who'd frightened him. There, sitting quietly and staring up at the dawn was Liz and by the looks of things, she had been sitting there for quite a while.

"Hey Max," she muttered without looking at him, keeping her eyes trained on the brightening sky. The tone in her voice resonated within him, telling the once alien king that things were not at all well with the girl he loved.

"Are you okay?" Max unfroze and cautiously made his way closer to Liz's side, sitting down on the edge of her patio chair. "I mean," he smiled a little, "I know it's a pretty stupid thing to ask all things considered, but…"

Liz finally turned her head in his direction and looked him straight in the eye with a small, rueful smile playing on her lips as well. "I won't lie and say I'm completely fine, but I'm dealing. Besides," she sighed, running a hand over the journal in her lap that he only just noticed being there. "It was my own fault. I should've trusted you and I didn't and I'm sorry."

Max couldn't stop himself from touching her any longer as Liz continued softly, "It's because of me you got hurt, and I wish I could take it all back but I can't."

"Liz," Max waited until her eyes met his once more before continuing intently, "I'll admit I was a little angry at you for hiding in the car, but that was only because you put yourself at risk. Don't you know by now that you're my whole world and I can't lose you again, I mean, I just can't lose you ever."

Unable to bear the sight of Liz's dead eyes, he shook her gently and tried pulling her out of her guilt in another way, "You need to process things, Liz. If you bottle it all up and don't talk about it, it's only going to get a lot worse for you. Trust me in that at least, 'cause I know what I'm talking about."

"I'll try, Max." Liz said, after a long beat of silence where the two of them just stared intensely into each other's eyes. Max frowned a little, there was a small part of him that warned him that Liz wasn't telling him everything, but he also knew her well enough to know that he couldn't push her into accepting help until she was ready. They were eerily similar in that aspect.

"Good, I'll hold you to that." Max forced a smile and took her injured arm in his hand, and tried forcing down the guilt her injury caused him before their bond snatched it up and sent it to her. "Now, do you want me to heal this? It's gonna itch though, but I can't remove the cast or else your parents will be suspicious."

Liz smiled and caressed his cheek, and Max had to snap out of the automatic urge to lean into her warm touch as she answered his question. "No, you don't have to do that. By the looks of it, you seem like you could probably use your powers on yourself instead of on me. I mean, I only hurt my arm and you suffered through a lot worse than me…"

Her eyes darkened at the memory and something flashed through them that Max couldn't quite decipher, so he hurried to distract her. "I've healed the worst of it and feel a lot better. Now…Do you wanna go downstairs for breakfast? I know your dad opens in about ten minutes anyway and you look like you could use some proper food before tackling school."

Liz grinned, but her feelings weren't in it completely and Max promised himself to get Liz to talk about things before too long so she didn't wind up exploding like he'd done on more than one occasion. "Sure, let me just go in and wake up Maria and Alex; I'm sure they're starving too – We crashed pretty early yesterday so we didn't really eat much."

"Sure," Max agreed, hating that tiny, juvenile part of him that really just wanted to spend time alone with his wife, and stood up to climb back down and enter the Crash' through the front door. He mentally shuddered at the thought of how overprotective Jeff Parker would get if he spotted him coming downstairs from Liz's room. He'd lived through hell on more than one occasion, but there weren't many people, human or not, that scared him as much as his father-in-law in a rage.

"I think you should call your sister and Michael to come too," Liz's voice brought him out of the memory of a pissed off Mr. Parker and he nodded in accord. "And I'll call T-Tess and Kyle too," she added, for some reason hesitating on Tess' name, but Max didn't pay any attention to it, already sending out a pulse to Isabel with as much power that he could spare.

A half an hour later, found Max sitting next to a sleepy eyed Maria, who kept thanking him in low tones for saving her, while cursing him for letting Liz wake her up so soon at the same time. Alex was sitting next to her, eying his orange juice with reverence as he listened attentively to something Isabel was whispering in his ear. Michael was staring longingly at Maria, who paused long enough to smile shyly at him from time to time and Tess was sitting next to him, seemingly pretending not to notice Kyle at all, who was sitting straight next to her and focusing on his waffles with an intensity that most people used to solve complicated equations. Liz was sitting on an extra chair on the edge of the table, so the crammed booth didn't wind up suffocating them, and was silently enjoying her meal, glancing at them all with a pleased look in her eyes.

Max shared her pleasure, happy to unwind for the first time in a long time. Also, he thought glancing around at the packed table; it's the first time we've all been together since I can remember. It's almost peaceful… I just hope it last this time but if it doesn't, I'm gonna be ready.

Clenching his fist around his fork, Max silently swore yet again to keep his family safe and looked over at a still silent Liz once again before digging into his own breakfast.

Extra Kathleen's POV

Her alarm clock went off, waking her with a jolt and feeling tired but somehow still extremely energized, Kathleen all but jumped out of her bed to get ready for her day.

As she sat down to eat her morning meal, a little time later, Kathleen pondered over her current life. She'd been sent to Roswell to spy on some kids, but had resigned from that assignment only a week into things; her conscious not ready to go after harmless kids.

Fortunately, her supervisor had allowed her to quit without any hassle, which she vaguely remembered being something that he rarely did, and Kathleen had kept her job as the school's guidance counselor with the irregular case of substituting various classes as well.

She'd been ill and depressed for a few months, she knew, but know things were okay again and the young woman was ready to face her job with all the energy that had been missing for a while. An hour later, Kathleen was entering the school with high spirits and went about her day as she usually did, with joy.

Sometime during the day, there was a knock on the door and it opened to reveal one of her favorite students, Max Evans. He was smiling kindly down at her as she gestured for him to take a seat.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay, Miss Topolsky," he said softly, denying her invitation by remaining upright. "I want my preferred substitute teacher okay now that I've heard Mr. Morrison cough a lot today – just in case."

"You just like me 'cause I don't assign homework," Kathleen smiled widely and Max nodded in reply.

"Of course."

"Well, Mr. Evans; I guess I can soothe your oh-so-worried mind by revealing that yes, I'll be taking over Mr. Morrison's classes tomorrow. He's already asked me earlier."

"Great." Kathleen enjoyed the rare smile that lit up his usually so emotionless face; a face that more often than not, caused her fellow teachers to think of him as trouble. It was something that the former agent really hated, because on some deep level, she just knew that Max Evans was a good kid.

She eyed him closer and narrowed her eyes when she spotted an almost healed cut on his upper lip and fully took in the dark shadows under his eyes. "Is everything okay with you, Max?"

The teen took a deep breath and stared just as intensely into her eyes as she did his before he replied softly, "Yeah, Miss Topolsky. Things are beginning to look up now. Don't worry about it."

"You can always come to me, I hope you know that, right?" her tone was exceedingly gentle, as if she was talking to a wild animal, which on some level she thought she was considering the poor kid's background.

"I know." Max paused and then the atmosphere lightened as he smiled again and added before leaving just as suddenly as he came, "I'm glad you're okay now Miss Topolsky."

As he quietly closed the door behind him, Kathleen had the strangest feeling that he wasn't talking about her depression that had almost cost her not only her F.B.I job, but her current job as well. Then, deciding not to worry about it and just enjoy her life as she felt almost obligated to for some reason, Kathleen shook her thoughts out of her mind and concentrated on reading Mr. Morrison's notes for her class the next day.

TBC…

Reply to KO, who kindly reviewed! I'm sorry you think that my numerous grammatical errors are putting you off, I really am, but to be honest, I've given up on finding a decent Beta, simply due to the fact that none of my past experiences have worked out well and I've had a lot; believe me. I know I'm by no means perfect especially when it comes to my punctuation, but I do think it could be a lot worse than it is considering I come from a non English speaking country.

Also, for your concern about my story ending up being one dimensional due to the fact that I'm pairing everyone up as per canon, I respectfully disagree. Of course, it'd be more realistic to not end up with your high school sweetheart and all, but I really enjoy the canon pairings and will continue using them, even if it retracts from my story – I'm a Candy, Stargazer, Dreamer etc. kind of girl. Hopefully you'll still enjoy my story at least a little bit tohugh! Thanks for taking the time to review; it really means a lot to me!

A/N I put in Kathleen's POV at the end because I think she deserved it and I couldn't fit it in; I've had it lying around for a long time but finally decided to just add it as a little extra bit. And I'm aware that Max healing her scars could end up giving her powers, but I'm twisting canon a bit and saying that since the healing stones were involved that just doesn't happen…because…uhm…it doesn't:D

Until Next Time

Ditte Mai