Title: Details in the Fabric

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: I've posted two chapters with this update, so if you haven't read the previous one (Little Lost Boys part one), you should go back and do that or this won't make any sense.

Summary: Sequel to Time After Time. AU Season Three. In the end, it's the little things that can pull a group together. And it's the little things that can tear them apart.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Little Lost Boys (part two)

Trudy had never paid much attention to the odd assortment of acquaintances Tess had outside her immediate friends, but if she was ever forced to actually think about it, she would find herself surprised that Tess deigned to speak to any of them. Of course, the petite blonde tolerated Max because he was Isabel's sister, and Michael because he was Isabel's friend, and Alex because he was Isabel's boyfriend, and Liz because she used to date Kyle, and Maria because their parents had been dating.

Still… she seemed to spend a lot more time with them than was normal.

But it didn't really matter to Trudy, and, anyway, she was smart enough not to ask Tess about it as it only ever seemed to make the other girl annoyed.

But that didn't mean she didn't notice when Tess was suddenly upset about something relating to those other acquaintances. And it didn't mean that she didn't recognize the worry in her friends eyes and know that it was related to something she wouldn't really understand.

Michael Guerin had been absent from school for two days. This coincided roughly with both Liz Parker's return and Max Evans' obvious grief over something. Whether they were all related or not was completely beyond Trudy's knowledge, but what she did know was that Tess spent much of each of her classes either staring worriedly at Max, thoughtfully at Liz, or uneasily at Michael's empty seat.

It disturbed Trudy a little.

But not as much as it disturbed her every time Kyle was mentioned and Tess' eyes shadowed over with real, vivid, unadulterated anxiety.

So it was at lunch on the third day of Michael's absence that she asked her friend tentatively, "How's Kyle?" and was rewarded by a sharp look from Tess.

Tess seemed to freeze for a long moment, and then she let out a breath and said, "He's coping. Sort of. Have you spoken to him recently?"

Trudy winced. "I call," she answered, "but we never really talk about anything substantial." Conversations with Kyle had gotten more and more insipid since his departure. It was nearly impossible to get him to say anything of importance, and though she continued to call because she wanted to show that she still cared, she wasn't sure how much good it was doing for either of them.

Tess nodded, looking not at all surprised. "He's been doing that to me, too," she admitted. "Lately, when I talk to him, he just wants to talk about sports." She chewed her lip for a moment, then said in a low voice, "I think he might be a little lonely."

"I thought he was making friends," Trudy asked, eyebrows raised. She had never really picture Kyle as a loner, and could not imagine that he hadn't somehow formed another group to replace the one he left behind.

She wondered with a momentary pang if he had also found another girlfriend.

"He is," Tess agreed. "And he's having a good time with everything. I know he is. But… it was a big change for him, and to come so soon after Jim…" She trailed off with sigh and looked away.

And stiffened.

Trudy followed her gaze and saw Michael entering the quad, a backpack slung over one shoulder. He had not been in classes in the morning, and so she surmised that he must have only been arriving at that moment. She watched him curiously, noting that he looked almost hunched over and certainly angry.

He walked over to the table currently inhabited by Max, Isabel, and Alex and sat down. Isabel tried to say something to her, and it was clear that he had somehow indicated that he did not want to talk, because she pulled back from with a jerky movement and then folded her arms across her chest and said nothing.

Trudy looked at Tess.

The blonde was staring intensely at Michael, and it appeared as though she might actually go over to talk to him. But after a long pause, she looked away, focusing her attention back on Trudy.

"I wonder what's going on with him," Trudy said quietly. When Tess gave her a blank stare and pretended not to have any idea what Trudy was talking about, she refrained with some difficulty from rolling her eyes and said, "Michael Guerin. He hasn't been in school for the past couple days."

"Who hasn't been in school?" Chris asked, suddenly appearing behind Tess and dropping his food onto the table. Jessica was standing behind him, and she walked around the table and took the spot next to Trudy. Tess smiled at both of them, and Chris returned the smile before switching his attention back to Trudy.

"Michael Guerin," she answered.

Chris' eyebrows furrowed, and he said, "Guerin, huh?" He scanned the quad before finding the teenager in question. "Hm… well, he's here now. And apparently avoiding people."

Trudy glanced over again in time to see Michael suddenly jump to his feet and stalk away from the table. He was halfway across the quad when he ran into Maria and Liz, and after what appeared to be another short argument, he stormed away from the two of them as well.

Maria stared after him, an unreadable expression on her face.

"It's like a soap opera," Jessica said.

"We don't even know what they are arguing about," Trudy pointed out logically.

Jessica considered this for a moment, then shrugged casually and said, "We could make it up. Guerin hasn't been at school for a few days, so he's clearly on some secret government mission. And he's avoiding Maria and Liz because he got them both pregnant. But he's actually in love with Isabel, who it will turn out is his long lost sister, so that's going to be a problem. And his evil twin is going to come and pretend to be him…"

Tess choked on the water she had been drinking, and when Trudy turned to look at her in surprise and a bit of concern, she flushed pink and forced a smile.

"Are you alright?" Jessica asked.

"Fine. Just… water went down the wrong tube," Tess explained, coughing a few times. She put the water bottle down and added, "And I think your idea is a little far-fetched. If for no other reason then no government agency is going to be stupid enough to hire Guerin to do anything."

"That's what he wants you to think," Jessica answered with a grin. "But he's more than he appears. He's not even human. He's a robot designed to assassinate people."

"If he's a robot, how did he get Maria and Liz pregnant, and how would he have a sister?" Chris asked skeptically.

"He's a really advanced robot," Jessica answered.

"This conversation is making not making sense anymore," Trudy said quietly.

Chris rolled his eyes. "Was this conversation making any sense in the first place?"

Trudy had to agree with that particular sentiment. Jessica somewhat bizarre imagination was always amusing, but rarely lead to anything that had logic or reason in it. But Jessica didn't seem to mind, and it was clear by the way she was gazing towards the sky that she was attempting to come up with more unrealistic explanations for the scenario that they had seen.

Trudy shook her head in amusement and turned to look at Tess.

Tess was staring out across the quad in the same direction Michael had gone.

The room was empty, save for the boxes lining the far wall and the three tables that were pushed near the door to the back room. The floor was clean, not a single speck of dirt or dust remaining. Max looked down, and could see his own reflection staring up at him.

"You're a smart kid, Max," Brody was saying. "You'll find another job." He looked uneasy and apologetic, but he was also clearly too preoccupied with other things to allow his concern for Max to interfere with his plans.

Max gestured to the empty UFO Center and said, "It's not the job or the money, Brody. I just… you're giving it all up. All your dreams about…"

"About what?" Brody demanded, his words far angrier than Max had ever heard. "About making contact with aliens? What's the point?"

"It was everything you worked for," Max protested. "You can't just give up on it. This was your life's work."

It was strange to see the place so empty and clean and quiet. Max was used to the usual disarray of papers and books scattered on tables and newspaper clipping posted on the walls. And if the UFO Center only attracted the occasional tourist, he still used to that, too. Not this too-clean room, too-sterile room.

"It was my life's work," Brody said simply, turning away from Max. "It isn't anymore." He walked over to one of the boxes and gazed at it for a moment, then pulled a large black pen out of his pocket and began writing on the side. "The movers will be here tomorrow to take everything away, and then I'll put the space up for sale or rent. I'll get an agent to deal with it so I can get out of town."

"You're going to leave Roswell?"

Brody studied Max for a long time, then shrugged. "No reason to stay. I didn't find the aliens."

"Doesn't mean they're not still out there," Max answered stubbornly.

Brody sighed and leaned back, resting his hands on the top row of the boxes. "Like I said, what's the point?"

"I thought you wanted…"

"I wanted to find aliens," Brody said sharply, bitterly. "I wanted to find the aliens who had healed me, who had taken away my sickness, so that they could take away hers as well." There was no need to say anything else, no need to explain exactly what he meant, but he did anyway. "Sydney. It was always for Sydney. No one else understood that, not even Melissa. But it doesn't matter now, does it? It's too late. She's… gone."

Max flinched.

He knew, logically, that it wasn't an attack against him. Brody had no idea that he was an alien, no idea that he had the power to heal. No idea that he was the one who had failed here, he was the one who had not saved Sydney. And if Brody had no knowledge of any of that, how could he blame Max?

But it did nothing to ease Max's guilt, because he still blamed himself. The anger and heartbreak that he saw reflected in Brody's eyes, and the heavy resignation that lay beneath his actions, only served to increase the hybrid King's feelings of blame, whether Brody meant it or not.

And what would Brody say if he knew the truth? Would he hate Max? Would he blame him for all this?

"What are you going to do?" Max asked finally.

"I don't… I don't know," Brody admitted slowly.

Max looked at him them, really looked. His face was lined with wrinkles that had not been there before all this, and his eyes, which were usually so expressive, seemed to be slowly losing all emotion, the feelings fading away even as Max watched. His hair stuck out at odd angles like it often did, but it looked more rumpled and unkempt them usual. And his skin was sallow and pale and his entire body exuded weariness.

The UFO Center looked so strange, so foreign, in all its emptiness. But Brody was quickly becoming unrecognizable as well, turning into someone Max didn't know and wasn't sure how to relate to.

Because of Sydney. Because she was dead.

"I'm sorry," he said finally. "I'm sorry that I couldn't help more."

Brody frowned. "I didn't let you help much with any of the actually important things," he pointed out, his gaze moving automatically towards the back room. "So it was hardly your fault."

Max licked his dry lips and wanted desperately to refute that statement. It was his fault, after all, and shouldn't he have to suffer the consequences of it?

"I was so close," Brody said after a pause. "I kept feeling like… like the answer was right in front of me. If I could just open my eyes I would see it." He shook his head. "But maybe it was always a fool's dream. Maybe it wouldn't have mattered if I had found them. Maybe… maybe they wouldn't have helped her."

"I'm sure they would have wanted to," Max answered.

"Maybe," Brody said softly, "but who knows?"

There was a long silence as Max searched desperately for something to say. But any of his words would have been empty, meaningless. He had seen both Kyle and Tess struggle with Jim's death and knew that this sort of grief didn't have an simple answer and couldn't be easily fixed.

But he cared about Brody, and he had cared about Sydney.

And yet, apparently not as much as he cared about Tess. Not as much as he cared about the rest of his family. And when it had come down to it, he had given up trying to save Sydney. He had allowed himself to be talked out of it because the risk of exposure was so high, and because he had already tried once and failed.

He had put his own life above hers, and now she was dead.

"I know you've got your own reason for wanting to find aliens," Brody said finally, breaking the silence, "so I've left you something. Some equipment. It's in the back room, you can take a look at it. I've left instructions, too, and I know you've got some smart friends so you can probably figure it all out." He hesitated, looking contrite, and then explained, "I would have shown you how to use it myself, but I just can't… I can't even look at it right now. Any reminder of aliens is just… it's too much."

Max nodded. "Thank you," he said, his throat dry.

"You're a good kid, Max," Brody repeated his earlier sentiment. "And… and you're special. I've known that since you first started working here. If there are aliens in Roswell, you will find them."

Max closed his eyes and thought to himself that Brody had no idea just how right he was.

"And now Michael isn't even speaking to me," Maria grumbled. "It's almost like he doesn't remember that we are supposed to be dating. I mean… he's my boyfriend. I think."

"It's not you," Alex countered. "He's not speaking to anyone. Isabel says he won't talk to her or Max or Tess unless it is about training for this war. And he keeps skipping classes."

Liz looked up from the homework assignment she was supposed to be working on and nodded in agreement. Michael's behavior, though annoying, was not particularly surprising or even incomprehensible. The truth behind Trevor's death had obviously hit him hard, particularly given that Trevor had switched loyalties in the end.

She wanted to tell Maria to be patient, that Michael would come around in time. But patience had never been her best friend's strongpoint, and Liz herself had been gone from Roswell long enough that she wasn't actually entirely sure if Michael would come around. Everyone had changed, and she didn't always recognize her friends any more.

"How are you?" Alex asked abruptly, pulling Liz from her thoughts. The three of them were gathered in his room, supposedly to study. But little studying had gotten done so far, and it didn't look like any more would happen.

Liz gave Alex a confused look and put her papers down. "What do you mean?"

"With everything you learned," Alex said. "With your… your new gifts."

Liz closed her eyes. "Isabel came up to me today. Asked me how I was," she said quietly. "Did you… did you put her up to that?"

"No," Alex answered, sounding surprised. "Why would I?"

"I don't know. I just… I just thought…" Liz trailed off and wasn't sure quite what to say. Isabel's bitter rant still echoed in her head, and she'd had some time to think over what the other girl had said. Had Isabel been right? Had she been so eager to find answers to her own concerns that she had not bothered to think about the danger she had put Isabel in?

She and the hybrid Princess were hardly on speaking terms at the moment, and this latest incident had not helped. But Isabel had sought her out, had taken the time and made the effort to ask if she was alright. Because the revelation that Liz had somehow acquired alien powers was significant.

And Liz – though she had no desire to admit this to Isabel, and maybe not even to Alex – was afraid. How could she not be? This changed everything. She was still human… but she could do things ordinary humans couldn't.

"It's weird," Maria said after a moment. "I mean… you're practically Czechoslovakian."

Liz rolled her eyes. "I am still fully human," she answered with a bit more defensiveness in her voice than she had intended. Alex and Maria both raised their eyebrows at her, and she felt the beginnings of a blush. She had not meant to sound quite so afraid of being an alien, but…

The door swung open and Max appeared in the room.

"Oh. Uh. Sorry, Alex, I didn't realize you…" The hybrid king stopped abruptly as he caught sight of Liz. He held her gaze for a beat, then said, "Uh… right. I can come back."

"Is everything alright?" Alex asked worriedly. "Is it Isabel? Did something happen?"

The true fear in his voice caught Liz off-guard, and she looked at him with interest. She'd known for some time that Alex's feelings for Isabel ran much deeper than just a normal high school relationship, but she hadn't really stopped to consider just how much everything Isabel had gone through would have affected Alex.

And it was clear from the anxiety in his eyes and the fear that colored his tone that he was truly afraid for her.

Again, Liz had the strangest sensation that she had missed out on a lot in the past few months, and even her closest friends had changed.

"She's fine," Max said quickly, waving away Alex's concerns. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something else."

Alex let out a sigh of relief, then said, "Um… sure. What is it?"

"Brody Davis shut down the UFO Center. He's… he's leaving because Sydney…" He stopped, and for a moment he looked so broken and so lost that Liz could only just barely stop the instinct to reach out to him, to comfort him.

He sagged against the wall of the room, looking weary and far older than she remembered. He was worried about Michael, she knew. And everything that had happened with Sydney was weighing on him, and the war and Khivar and Isabel and…

"But he left some of his… uh… I don't really know what they are. He had all this technological stuff that he used to track alien activity. And he left some of it for me because… well, because he thinks I am trying to find aliens. But I thought… well, there are some guidebooks, and maybe if the two of us looked through it we could figure out how everything works and it could help us with Khivar. I don't know, it could be a long shot, but…"

"Of course I'll help," Alex said without any hesitation. "When do you want to look at it?"

"Well, I was going to suggest now," Max said, his eyes moving from Alex to Maria and Liz, "but since you're obviously busy… how about tomorrow? After school?"

"That sounds good," Alex said.

"If it is something that needs to be done right away, I think Maria and I would be okay giving up Alex for a little bit," Liz offered with a faint smile for Max.

He stared blankly at her, as though he had no idea how to respond to a smile. Then he nodded and said, "Thanks, but I don't think it is an emergency. We should be okay to wait until tomorrow, and I don't want to interrupt your… whatever you're doing. Hanging out."

"Right, okay."

"Thanks," Max said again, and then slipped from the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Wow," Maria said sarcastically once Max was gone, "that wasn't awkward at all."

"I'll be right back," Liz announced, and she scrambled towards the door, ignoring Maria's surprised look and Alex's shrewd stare. She didn't care what either of them thought at the moment, but she had to talk to Max. She had no idea what she would even say, but the discomfort that existed between the two of them was wearing on her, and she needed to do everything she could to clear the air.

And she kept thinking about his fears, about the terror he had felt at the idea of any of them ending up in the white room.

She caught up with Max as he was climbing into his car. He paused as she called his name, and gave her a look full of bewilderment and wariness. But he climbed out of the car and leaned against the hood as she came closer.

Liz found herself frantically searching for the right words, and when she couldn't figure out what to say, she asked lamely, "How is everything?"

"Uh… okay," Max answered. "You?"

"Good," Liz said. "It's good. A little… a little freaked out now that I apparently have alien gifts, but… you know. That's life, I guess. At least in Roswell."

Max nodded. "Isabel said she talked to you," he said. "She said that you said that you were okay."

"Yeah," Liz agreed.

"I talked to Tess about it," Max said after a moment of silence. "If you want to learn how to… how to use your gifts, I think she is probably the best one to help you. Because, you know, it's… it's a mental thing, what you can do now. But if you don't want to learn, that's fine, too."

"Do you think I should?" Liz asked, surprising herself by seeking his opinion before answering with her own.

Max looked equally surprised as he answered, "Only if you want."

"If it would be helpful," Liz murmured.

"It probably would," Max answered. "I mean… I don't know how useful, but I can't imagine that it would be a bad thing. And it could help us… you know, with the skins."

Liz grimaced slightly at the sudden thought that she might become some kind of supernatural interrogator, pulling secrets out of other people's minds.

"Okay. Well. Yeah, so I'll… I'll talk to Tess," Liz said.

"Right."

They were both quiet for a moment, and Max fiddled with the car keys in his hand. He glanced a couple times at the driver's seat, clearly debating whether or not to end the conversation and leave.

"I'm sorry," Liz said abruptly.

Max's eyebrows rose.

"I didn't… I was mad when I said what I said. And I was hurt and scared… terrified. I never meant to blame you for what happened to Valenti and Alex." Liz swallowed back her own reservations and pushed on, the words practically pouring from her now that she was finally giving herself permission to say them, "I saw it in your mind. In the flashes, when you were healing me. And I'm sorry, Max. I never… I didn't mean it and I shouldn't have said it, but I was just so… I didn't want to lose Alex. He's my best friend, and it just felt like… like there was this huge hole in my chest and he was dying and I… I'm sorry."

Max stared at her in silence.

"And I'm sorry about going to Las Cruces. I should have done it differently. I shouldn't have… or… well, no. I think I was right about that, about going there, about following the lead to save Alex. But I should have been more understanding about what you were afraid of. I wasn't thinking about the white room and I don't… I don't often spend a lot of time thinking about what Pierce did to Tess. And that's wrong, I know it is. Because I know that she doesn't have the luxury of forgetting and that you don't either because it could happen again. You could go back there, and I just… I don't want that. I never wanted that."

"Why did you come back?" Max asked.

Liz was momentarily thrown by the complete change in topic, but then she answered, "Because if anything happened to the four of you, or to Maria and Alex, and I wasn't here… I thought I could walk away, Max, but I can't. I just… I just can't."

"No, you couldn't," Max agreed quietly, his voice filled with raw emotion. He scrubbed his hands over his face as though trying to rub away the mixture of anguish and regret Liz saw in his expression. And then he looked at her, and when he spoke, his voice shook, "And you were right about Alex."

Liz opened her mouth to respond, then snapped it shut when she realized she had no idea what to say.

"I didn't remember until… until Sydney. She died, and I hadn't been able to save her and if that had happened to Alex…" Tears formed in Max's eyes, and he blinked rapidly then brushed them away with one hand. "I didn't want it to be alien-related. I didn't want Jim to be another death that we… that happened because of us."

"It wasn't your fault that…"

"Yes," Max interrupted her firmly, "it was. That's the thing, Liz, it was my fault. What happened to Jim and Alex wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for us. If we weren't here, if we didn't live in Roswell… Sydney would have died no matter what, I know that. But Jim didn't have to."

Liz wished there was something she could say that would make everything miraculously better, but she couldn't stop this entire situation from hurting them all, and she couldn't stop the war.

"You came back," Max said. "You couldn't walk away. And I did. I walked away from Alex."

"You were trying to protect Isabel, Michael, and Tess," Liz argued.

"Yes," Max whispered, "I was. And… and, Liz, it terrifies me. The FBI, the white room. Sometimes I think it scares me even more than Khivar and his skins. And I know we think about Khivar all the time, and I know we've been thinking about this war instead of the FBI for the past year, ever since the Special Unit was disbanded, but… But sometimes I think about it. And I just… I don't know if we can do this. I don't know if we can fight the skins and not expose ourselves."

He rubbed at his eyes again and looked away from her. She reached out tentatively and placed her fingers on his arm in what she hoped was a reassuring manner.

"But if Alex had died, then what would it matter?" Max asked bitterly. "Is it a fair trade, sacrificing him to save myself?"

"We were both wrong about Alex," Liz offered. "You should have listened to me and I should have listened to you."

"Yes," Max said, his voice hollow. "And I'm sorry for making you feel like you weren't needed here. I'm sorry for making you feel like you couldn't help us. Because… because I do need you, Liz. I don't think I've ever not needed you." He licked his lips, then added, "But I don't know how to go back."

"I don't, either," Liz admitted.

The past wasn't something that could be easily undone.

He knew something was wrong the moment Maria showed up at his door with an expression that was a mixture of determination and regret. And that feeling in the pit of his stomach only intensified when she asked politely if she could come in.

Maria didn't ask. Maria barged into his apartment without any invitation and just assumed that she belonged there. This was strange and out of character, and his first instinct was to ask if the world was ending.

"I just wanted to talk," Maria explained as Michael stared at her in apprehension.

"Right. Okay."

"See, at first I thought I was worried because I couldn't figure out if I was losing myself in this alien stuff and in my relationship with you," Maria said, and she said it so softly that Michael had to actually strain to catch the words.

"And then I got upset because we were arguing again and I missed the way it had been over the summer when we didn't argue and we spent so much time together. And then I got upset because you seemed to care so much about how Isabel was doing, which I now realize was ridiculous because Isabel was in actual danger so of course you cared. And then… then I got mad because you wouldn't talk to me about Trevor."

Maria perched on the edge of the sofa and stared at him, her expression open and honest. And Michael couldn't help but wonder how this had all happened without him even noticing.

"But then… then I realized that this wasn't about me. It was about you," Maria said. "And I get it. You have a war to fight. You have a planet to save. You have people to protect and… and dealing with me is probably not one of your priorities at the moment."

"Maria…" Michael started, and then stopped, because he couldn't think of what to say.

"I still want to be friends," she said. "I still care about you."

Michael blinked. "You… you're breaking up with me."

"Yeah," Maria said with a heavy sigh. "You pulled away, Michael. You pulled away from me, and you started doing it a while ago. It's just that I think both of us were too busy with other things to really realize what it meant." She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "But I get it now. I get what it means. I get what it is you have to do, what you have to deal with. I want you to win this war. I want you to survive. And I don't… I don't want to get in the way."

Next Chapter: Preparations

Due: Sun 2/20