Isabel was aiming for his head and, fortunately, she missed. Alex fell to his knees, clutching his arm.
"Oh God Alex!"
She let go of the bat and fell to her knees beside him.
"Alex, are you all right?"
Alex shook his head. "If you wanted to get rid of me that bad, Iz, you didn't have to start wielding weapons. I can take a hint."
Isabel smiled a little at that.
"No, Alex, you really can't. But that's not what this is about."
"What is it about," he asked as she helped him back to his feet.
Isabel glanced around the yard. It was still empty.
"I thought I heard something. No one else is home so I thought I should check it out." She put her arm around him and she helped him inside. "Come on in. I'll nurse you back to health."
He looked at her eagerly.
"Do--do you have one of those nurse's uniforms?"
* * * * *
"Maxwell?"
Max heard Michael's voice but it seemed very far away. He had spent the last few days feeling his soul dying. It was a strange feeling to have a living body and nothing inside of it but that's how it had felt. Now, after listening to what Maria and Michael had found in Liz's journal he felt an odd warmth seeping back in. It was hope.
"Max, what should we do?" Maria asked.
Max looked at her.
"We find out the truth."
* * * * *
When they heard the scream, Mulder shoved Liz behind him and drew his gun. It was pointed at the bush where the sound had come from when a young man popped his head up from behind it.
"Hey, do you mind..." His voice trailed off when he saw that he was looking down the barrel of a revolver.
"Eddie!"
Liz brushed passed Mulder and let out a big sigh of relief. "Eddie, what are you doing out here?"
Her question was answered when a young woman stood up beside him, pulling a sweater over her shoulders.
"Oh."
"Well, that explains the scream," Mulder assessed as he reholstered his weapon.
* * * * *
Kyle Valenti had a love/hate relationship with Max Evans. He hated Max for stealing Liz away from him, he hated him for sometimes being more important to his dad then he was, he even hated him for being some great leader. Love was probably too strong a word but the guy had saved his life which, strangely, was another reason he hated him. But right at this moment, with Max pinning him against the wall, he was definitely leaning toward the negative.
He had been pumping some weights, minding his own business, when the doorbell rang. He opened the door and Max had plowed in, pushing him up against the opposite wall, jabbing his arm against his throat.
"Why did you do it, Kyle," Max shouted.
"You mean, Liz? I suppose I should have seen this coming, but I thought you were this man of peace, Luke Skywaker."
Max hit the wall next to Kyle's head and Kyle could almost swear that the whole house shook.
"I know you didn't sleep with her, why did you pretend that you did?"
Kyle's brows dipped in confusion. He looked over at Maria who, with Michael, or 'Evans' right hand thug' as Kyle liked to think of his as, had come in after Max.
"It was in her journal, so don't bother denying it,' she confirmed.
"You read her journal? That is low."
"Why did you do it?" Max asked again.
"Because she asked me to!"
Max was pressing so hard against his throat that the edges of Kyle's vision were getting dark. But he wouldn't give antennae boy the satisfaction of knowing that. Besides, if Max killed him he could always bring him back. That had been fun. But Max let go of him and he reflexively reached for his throat.
"Did she tell you why?"
Kyle took a minute to clear his head.
"She wouldn't tell me," he said.
"Who is FM?"
"Who?"
"FM, the guy that was in the bathroom."
"There was no one in the bathroom! That would have been disturbed."
"No more so then you and Liz together.," Michael snorted.
"Watch it, space boy or I'll---"
"What, hit me with a dumbbell?"
"Hey!" Maria jumped between them. "The testosterone in this room is --well, it's kind
of sexy, but it doesn't help Liz any."
It was right then that Sheriff Valenti walked in.
"Hi kids," he said, glancing at them in turn. "It's nice to see you getting along."
* * * * *
"You know Liz, you seem to keep the strangest company."
Liz looked away from Mulder, who was being bandaged by Riverdog and she glanced at Eddie. They were in Riverdog's living room, which seemed oddly suburban.
Except, of course, for the large painting of a five planet star system on the wall.
"Aliens, and now a wounded FBI agent? Did you ever think of publishing your memoirs?"
Liz grinned slightly.
"Who would believe it?"
"Good point."
Then she stopped smiling and turned serious.
"Just don't call me Liz, OK? I don't want him to know my real name."
"Why?"
"You'll just have to read about it on the bestseller's list." She turned to Mulder again.
"Listen, I'm going to call a friend of mine so she can cover for me with my parents, OK?"
Mulder nodded and Liz pulled out her cell phone.
* * * * *
Maria almost didn't hear her phone ring. The noise level with all the men in the room arguing almost drown it out. But she did hear it eventually and she answered it with annoyance.
"Mom, if this is about that ding in the car it will just have to wait--Liz!"
Suddenly the room went silent.
"Liz, where are you?"
"Let me talk to her," Max pleaded. Maria put up a hand to shut him up.
Liz sent a silent thank you to Riverdog and Eddie as they left the room. Riverdog looked concerned so she smiled at him reassuringly. Then she turned her attention back to the phone.
"Listen, Maria, I need you to cover for me all right? I called my Mom and told her that I was at your house. I told her I was spending the night."
"What? I mean, no Liz, no. You need to come home right now. Something really big is happening here."
"Maria, I'm sorry but--"
Mulder gestured to her from the window--he was frowning. Liz all but forgot about the phone in her hand and she went to peer through the blinds.
"Liz?"
Max reached over and grabbed the phone from Maria.
"Liz, where are you?"
Liz looked through the blinds and she felt goosebumps spike all over her skin. There were two men in suits approaching the house. Liz had a flash to when they'd rescued Max from the Special Unit--she had kissed Max and she'd seen everything he'd gone through--and everyone that had done those horrific things to him. Including the two men walking toward their hiding place.
"Oh God," she whispered.
"Liz?!" Max shouted, but the phone had sunk away from her ear.
"Come on," a male voice said. "We need to find someplace more private, wouldn't you agree?"
"Liz, who is that?!" Max shouted again.
Liz continued to stare at the men approaching. The images of Max being tortured, being brutalized, kept running through her head. She didn't hear the door open or Riverdog in the doorway.
"Agent Mulder--" he began but Mulder nodded and cut him off.
"We see them." He turned to Liz. "Tess, let's go!"
That woke Liz up and she remembered the phone in her hand. "Maria, I have to go."
"Liz, don't--" Max begged, but the line went dead. "Damn it!"
* * * * *
Mulder took Liz's hand and pulled her along after Riverdog. They went out the back door and cut across the yard.
"You can borrow by nephew's car, " Riverdog was saying as he led them to a beat up Volkswagen and handed Mulder the keys. "I'll distract them for as long as I can."
"Thanks." Mulder said and he climbed into the front seat. Liz didn't hesitate to climb in next to him.
* * * * *
"She didn't tell you where she was?" Maria asked.
"No, and she was with him--I heard his voice. What did she say to you, Maria?"
"She just wanted me to cover for her with her Mom. She said she was going to be out all---that is, for some time--she never got specific really."
"Nice save," Michael muttered.
"Can anyone tell me what's going on?" Valenti asked.
"I heard his name, I think." Max continued, having not heard the sheriff at all. He tried to think back and finally came up with it. "Mulder, I think."
"Mulder?" Valenti rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Now that's not a name I'd ever thought I'd hear again."
"You know him?" Michael asked.
Valenti turned and pulled open a hall closet.
"It can't be the same one," he said from the closet. He emerged a moment later with a dusty photo album.
"Oh please, not the photo album," Kyle mumbled. But his dad ignored him and opened up the dusty tome. "My dad knew a guy named Mulder. I don't remember the dad's first name but his son had some funny name. Bear, Squirrel...."
The four teenagers gathered around him and looked at the photo he was pointing at. It was two men decked out in fishing gear along with two younger boys, similarly dressed. Valenti passed it over to Max. Then he pointed to the older of the two boys.
"We all went fishing once, that's me." Then he pointed to the younger boy.
"That's Mulder's son, he was about ten years younger then me. Strange kid."
He got a thoughtful look on his face. "Fox! That was his name. Never got the story behind it."
Max stared at the photo. "Fox Mulder. FM."
