One month. One month of despair and loneliness. For them. But for her, it had been more than a decade. Ever since the day she came out of her pod. They were gone, all three of them. Sure, she had Nasedo, but like she would tell herself all the time, he wouldn't ever be family to her. He wasn't human. Neither was she, but at least she tried to be friendly. She tried to be human. But there was nothing other than his appearance that was human about him. Tess Harding knew it. Not that he'd let her forget it. He also wouldn't let her forget what she was here for.

Max Evans. That's what, or rather who, she was here for. She'd been told so her whole life, although she hadn't known his name until a few months before. That was the only time she'd seen a glimmer of humanity in her protector. She was watching TV in their latest home, when he came almost running in the room.

"I found them," he'd said with what she assumed was his equivalent of joy.

"Where?" she'd asked, sitting up.

"Roswell."

She was speechless. She never thought they would have ended up living so close to the pod chamber. It was the last place they would have gone. A month before, she had suggested he look there, only to get him away, so she could have a party. She never thought he'd go, but he did, and he found them. Pretty soon, they had packed everything and moved to Roswell.

She knew their names, finally. Max, Isabel and Michael. The first time she saw Max, it took her breath away. But it was soon over. Who was that girl sitting with him? Just looking at them, she knew getting him to accept his destiny with her would be harder than she thought. He loved her, she saw it in his eyes. So she decided to get close to someone else first.

She chose Isabel. And they had become friends. But the others would definitely be harder to convince. Only, when they found out, 30 days ago, they had cast her aside a bit. Even Isabel. Especially Max. Michael, however, hadn't pulled away as much as the others. He wanted her to teach him how to use his powers.

And the five humans, it was a whole different story. Nasedo always said not to get close to humans. But she wanted friends, alien or human. She'd never said it aloud, especially not to him. She wanted so bad for Liz, Maria, Alex, Kyle, and even the Sheriff, since he now knew their secret, to accept her. But after the turmoil she'd caused in their lives, they wouldn't exactly welcome her with open arms.

As she looked outside the window, she felt something come over her. It was hard to explain. But whatever it was, went as quickly as it had come. Before she knew what she was doing, she was walking to her car. That feeling was still on her mind. What had it been? It was like... like her subconscious told her to go for a drive. For some reason, she knew where she was going, even if she hadn't even decided to go there.

She stopped and looked at the house. Why had she come here? What was she supposed to say? 'Sorry for screwing up your relationship?' 'I was in the neighborhood, thought I'd stop by?' That wouldn't work. But she knew it was something she had to do. She'd waited long enough.

She shut off the engine. After looking at her watch, it was 9 at night, she slowly opened the door, got out, and closed it. 'Come on, you can do this,' she thought to herself. All of a sudden, the house looked enormous and so far away. After what seemed like an eternity, she was at the front door. 'Ring the bell. Just ring the bell.' One more deep breath. She looked at the car. It had never looked so inviting. 'This is ridiculous. Why am I so scared?' She pressed and heard the bell. 'There. I did it.' Shortly after, the door opened. 'Gorgeous as ever,' she thought.

"Tess. What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Max."

***

One month. Seemed like yesterday. How could this be? She still had trouble understanding it. In just a few short months, her entire world had changed. First one, then two, three, now five humans knew her secret. And she had found two more aliens. For a decade, she had relied on Max and Michael only. Sure, she had her parents and her school 'friends'. But none of them knew the real Isabel Evans. None of them knew she was from another planet.

But Liz, Maria, Alex, Kyle and the Sheriff did. And Tess and Nasedo had taught her so much. But there were some things she wished she'd never learned. Like this whole destiny thing. How could it be that she was meant to be with Michael? No way! He was like a brother to her. And now she was supposed to... to mate with him? She couldn't.

But she had to admit, those dreams had certainly intrigued her. In more ways than one. He looked so happy. SHE looked so happy. It was hard to deny it. In fact she couldn't deny it. They both looked filled with joy. And the young boy... their son... his son... her son. He was so beautiful. He kinda looked like Michael. Her, too. Now that she'd seen him, her maternal instincts were in overdrive. What should she do? That boy deserved to live. But could she have a life with Michael, like being married to him and all. And what about Alex? He'd been so good to her. He hadn't spoken to her, a real conversation, in those 30 days since the pod chamber.

When the four aliens had returned to Roswell, they had gone their separate ways. Michael and Tess went to their respective homes. Max had gone somewhere, not saying where. He never did tell her, although she was almost 100% sure where he'd went... to Liz. And from the look on his face when she saw him that night, it hadn't gone very well. Knowing her brother, she didn't ask anything.

She had gone to Alex's house. She didn't have the courage to ring the bell. So she went around to his window. There he was. It looked like... like he was crying. On closer inspection, she saw that he was indeed crying. And unfortunately, she understood why. 'I did this. I hurt him.' She had never intended to make him feel any pain. She had pushed away his advances for so long, in fear of the consequences, before finally giving in to her emotions just a few short months ago. She walked away from his house, crying too, that day.

And she was crying again now, thinking of the last 30 days. She had to move on, there was no other option. If she didn't, she'd spend the rest of her life feeling like crap. She didn't want that. She had to work through this. And like her feet had heard her mind, she found herself taking a stroll at almost nine at night. She just let them lead her. Away to the happy life she'd been living for ten years.

It was as if something made her want to go that night. She felt drawn there somehow. She didn't fight it, though. There was no way around it. It had to be done one day, it would have to be now. Maybe it would be okay. Maybe everything would be normal again soon. Maybe she could get her friends back. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Enough maybes. She would get what she wanted. Hopefully.

She had come to her destination. It figured. 'It's okay. Everything will be okay.' She knocked. Maybe no one was home. That sounded good to her. Finally, the door opened.

There he was. Why did he have to look so good right now? Why couldn't he look sick, or dirty, or anything but handsome? He'd just taken a shower. She could smell the soap. And his hair wasn't quite dry. It was slicked back, too. He was wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans, and he had no shoes on. Wow. He'd never caused her breath to skip before.

"What's up, Is?"

"Not much. Can I come in?"

Michael let her in.