Twin beams of light shot out from the headlights of the citation and shone into the phone booth, illuminating Max inside. As he picked up the phone to try another number, a shadow across the light distracted him, and he looked up to see Liz's lithe form in between the booth and the car. Her arms were wrapped around herself, trying to stay warm in the chilly desert-night air, and she paced worriedly to and fro. Max knew she was looking for the trans-am that they hadn't seen for the past thirty miles…and he shared her worry over its whereabouts. At least when he'd been behind them they'd known where Rath was; now they had no idea. Was he still out there, looking for them? Had he given up? Aborted his pursuit of them and gone back to Roswell? If so, all the more reason to get through to someone there and make sure Isabel had gotten back in time to warn them.
He'd already tried his home phone number, and Michael's apartment, to no avail. Finally he remembered Tess's cell phone. He entered the number from the calling card he kept in case of emergencies, and then punched in her number. It rang twice before she picked up.
"Hello?"
Max changed hands in holding the phone up to his ear, with his other he gestured to Liz that he'd gotten through. She stepped closer to the phone booth, watching him through the glass. "Tess!" he said, "Did Isabel get back?"
Tess's voice was relieved. "Yes, she's here. She told us what happened…Max, are you okay?"
Max shrugged off the question. "Yeah, we're all right. Liz and I made it to Alamogordo. We've lost Rath, though…we're not sure if he's here, or if he's on his way back to you."
"Liz and you…" Tess said.
Max interrupted. "Tess, is Michael there?"
"Y-yes, he is. Hold on." Tess stuttered, and Max heard fumbling as she passed the phone. A moment later he heard Michael's no-nonsense tone. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Max repeated. "We're in Alamogordo. Listen, Michael…you need to keep everyone together."
Max almost heard Michael's brusque nod. "Done…Tess and Ava and Isabel and me are at Liz's."
"Liz's place?" Max asked.
"It's the only place we could be without lots of other people around to wonder what was going on."
Max's brow furrowed. "What about your apartment?"
When Michael spoke next his voice sounded a little forced. "They've already been to my place," he said.
Max closed his eyes, afraid of what he was about to hear. "Michael? Michael what happened?"
Michael's voice was choked when he answered. "Lonnie tried to get to me….she got Maria."
Eyes flying open, Max's gaze was met by Liz's, on the other side of the glass. He knew she couldn't hear the conversation, but she could see his expression. At the shock on his face she stepped closer to the glass, and he saw her lips form his name soundlessly. Finally he was able to speak again into the receiver. "Got her? You mean…"
"She's okay," Michael said, "At least the doctors say she will be. She hasn't regained consciousness yet, though."
Outside the phone booth, Liz watched as Max slumped against the glass and she felt her pulse speed up. Oh God, she thought…something's wrong…someone's been hurt. Max…. She stepped closer to the booth and reached a hand up to press flat against the glass, as if trying to connect to Max on the other side. She saw Max open his eyes and look at her from inside the booth, and his own hand reached up to rest against the other side of hers…only the glass between them. He looked back at her earnestly, and there was something in his face that reassured her. Something was wrong, she could tell. But it wasn't too bad…at least not yet. Feeling a little better, she watched as he continued to speak into the receiver, listening some more and then giving instructions to Michael. Watched as he hung up and opened the door to the booth and stepped out.
Liz looked around again nervously, and then met Max's gaze. "What is it?" she asked. "What happened?"
Max took a deep breath, trying to figure out the best way to tell her. "Maria's in the hospital." he said. Forestalling her cry of fear, he hastened to clarify. Grasping her arms he said "She's okay, Liz…she's all right. She's unconscious, but she'll come out of it."
Liz's breathing was ragged, and her eyes were wide when she looked at him. "What happened?" she repeated. Max watched her face grow pale as he told her about Lonnie, and when he saw tears form in her eyes he drew her to him, enfolding her in his arms and holding her, wishing he could make it all go away.
Liz didn't resist him as he pulled her into his arms, and she tried not to break down crying. So much had happened in the last twenty four hours, it was almost too much to bear. She clung to Max like a lifeline, and he held her just as tightly.
Finally he drew back a little, and looked around watchfully. "We need to get inside somewhere," he said. "I'm worried that we don't know if Rath's still after us or not." He looked down at Liz's face, and noticed for the first time the exhaustion evident on it. "And we're both beat," he said tenderly. "I don't think either of us got any sleep last night."
Liz flushed as she remembered why they hadn't gotten any sleep the night before…remembering their desperate kiss before she'd run out of the Crashdown. Her lips still seemed to burn from his passionate kiss before she'd run out from behind the boulder at the quarry, and she fought the urge to touch them with her fingers, to hold the kiss there and keep the feel of his lips pressed against hers. Trying to change the subject, Liz asked "What about the others?"
Max ran a hand through his hair. "They're okay…Isabel got back and told them what happened, and Michael's got them all holed up at your place right now." At Liz's questioning look, he explained. "Everyone else has parents to answer to, and other people that might get caught up in the crossfire, like Maria. Your parents are out of town right now."
Liz nodded. It seemed stupid to be worried about the diner or what her parents would say right now…there was so much more at stake. Thank God they're not here now, she thought numbly.
Max saw the tired acceptance on her face, and shame swept through him. "I'm sorry, Liz. Sorry that you guys got caught up in this…sorry for everything." he said.
Liz looked up at him and smiled. It was weak, but genuine. "It's not your fault, Max. You didn't know any of this was going to happen, and there was nothing you could have done to prevent it."
"I could have listened to you when you said something was wrong…" Max started, but Liz pressed her fingers against his lips and prevented him from speaking more. She smiled at him again, and her expression showed understanding. Without a word, she understood and forgave his concern that he'd involved her in all this. They looked at each other silently for a moment, and then she spoke again. "So what do we do now?"
Max placed a hand on the small of her back and led her gently back toward the Citation. "We're going to hole up for the night," he said. "Find a hotel or something, and get some sleep. In the morning we can get back to Roswell, meet up with everyone, and figure out our next move." They got back in the car, Max driving this time, and the phone booth darkened again as the headlights swung away from it, and back toward the road.
~*~*~*~*~
"I just can't believe he didn't tell us." Michael said again. "I mean, he's always the one who's so set on us not keeping secrets from each other, but he doesn't tell us this?"
Isabel sighed and, having finished brushing her hair, put it back in a braid for the night. "He wasn't hiding it from us, Michael," she said. "It was just…a shock to him. He needed time to figure it out on his own." She rose from the vanity and headed over to Liz's bed, pulling the covers back. "Are they gonna be okay down there?" she asked.
Michael's thoughts went to Tess and Ava, downstairs in the Crashdown, on first watch. They were set to wake him and Isabel at 4 a.m., and go to sleep then. "Yeah, they'll let us know if anything comes up." Seeing the concern on Isabel's face, he continued. "I don't like this any more than you do, but we'll be no good at all if we don't sleep. And at least we're all together. All we've gotta do is lay low until Max gets back in the morning, and we'll have a much better chance to deal with Lonnie and Rath."
Isabel nodded her agreement. She watched as Michael continued to ready himself against a possible assault from the duplicates, transferring items he'd brought from his apartment into a duffle bag that he would keep next to him. He worked silently, but Isabel thought that something bothered him. "How's Maria?" she ventured.
Michael thrust a coiled rope into the duffle bag and paused. "I just called a little while ago. No change." Without ever having changed his facial expression, he resumed packing.
Isabel picked up on his worry. "She'll be okay, Michael. And Alex is there with her, right?"
Michael took a breath, still looking down at the bag. "Yeah. He's there. Not that he'd be able to stop Lonnie if she came back."
Isabel tried to reassure him. "Look, I know you hate to leave her there virtually unprotected, but Alex won't let anyone get to her, Michael. And it's highly unlikely that Lonnie would go back there, anyway. She's not after Maria. She'll be safe where she is."
"Yeah, now that I'm not there to present a big fat target and draw fire to her."
Isabel crossed to Michael and placed a hand on his arm, forcing him to look at her. "She'll be okay." she said again.
Michael looked into her eyes and saw that she was serious, and let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. He nodded a little, and picked up his last item to be put into the duffle bag.
Isabel stepped back in shock when she saw the gun. "Where did you get that?" she asked.
"It was Hank's," he said. "One of the things he left behind." He took out a clip and slammed it home, shoving the gun into the bag. He looked at Isabel. "Just in case"
~*~*~*~*~
Downstairs in the Crashdown, Ava and Tess had taken up positions at the two front windows, on opposite sides of the diner. Tess scanned the empty street in front of them, and then turned to see Ava mixing tobasco sauce into her chocolate ice cream. "How can you eat at a time like this?" she asked.
Ava spooned a mouthful and grinned at Tess. Swallowing, she asked "When would you prefer me to eat? In the morning? When we're dead?"
"Whoa, negative much?" Tess said, taken aback at Ava's fatalistic approach.
"Sorry," Ava said, sliding another heaping spoonful into her mouth. "But I know Lonnie. When she wants something, she gets it. And she wants that granilith." They sat in silence for a few minutes as Ava ate, and Tess continued to look out the window. After a moment, Ava spoke again, as if she'd been thinking. "Besides," she said, licking the spoon before placing it back in the empty bowl, "you've gotta take life as it comes to you. You've got to live each moment as you've got it…'cause you can't guarantee that you'll be able to later."
Tess contemplated that. "I suppose that's one viewpoint," she said. "I've never really thought of it that way." At Ava's curious look, Tess explained. "The Destiny. All my life, I've been told about the destiny that I had, and how I would have to fulfill it one day. My whole life has basically been in preparation for it." She paused for a beat as that sank in. "There haven't really been any moments to go with."
Ava seemed moved by the injustice. "But see, you can't live your life like that! There's too much out there to see and do to wanna follow some set of rules handed down to you."
Tess was curious. "But wouldn't you like to have something in your life that you can count on?" she said. "Some stability?"
Ava thought for a moment. "You count on the relationships you form. For a long time my stability was Zan and the others."
"But that changed." Tess remarked.
"But I didn't," Ava said. "Everything changes…everything but you. In the end, you're all you've got. And that's your stability. Trade in a destiny for a free will? Any day, man. Any day.
And there's always stuff to move on to…I mean, here I am, across the country…but I've found people who will take me in. People who care. People like me." Ava grinned at Tess as she said it, "some even more like me than others."
Tess smiled back, and then thought about the similarities and the differences between them. She wondered how Ava saw them. "Doesn't it…doesn't it bother you? Seeing Max?" she asked.
Ava sobered. "At first, yeah." she nodded. "It did. It was hard seeing him, and not thinking of Zan. But I eventually realized they're not the same. They may have started out with the same genetic structure and all…but they're not the same person."
Tess cocked her head. "What do you mean?"
Ava tried to figure out how to explain. "Well, it's like…they grew up in different places. They lived different lives, and had to make different kinds of decisions. Each decision and turning point in their lives changed them, and formed them into different people. Like us."
Another comfortable silence fell between them, and they watched a car go by without slowing before Ava spoke again. "I hope he's okay, though. Him and Liz. I hope Rath's not still looking for them. He's relentless."
Tess heard the fondness in Ava's voice. "You like her?"
Ava shrugged a little. She seemed to be embarrassed at the thought of having formed an attatchment. "She's nice to me," she said. "It's always nice to have a friend."
As the night wore on, and they kept watch, Tess pondered Ava's words.
~*~*~*~*~
Elsewhere in the dark, the trans-am cut through the night like a panther; growling low in its throat…searching for its prey.