The War

by

Domino


Part Twenty One

"A few years ago, almost 7 to be exact, I met and fell in love with a woman - a fellow agent. We got engaged. But because the Bureau prefers us to work in separate departments, three months before the wedding, she transferred to another branch."

"I hate to interrupt," Michael cut in, "But what does your love life have to with my wife and us?"

"Patience, my dear friend. All shall be revealed. Now where was I?"

Satisfied that he had everyone's attention again, he continued, "Her name was Kathleen. You may have met her - I believe."

There were gasps of recognition from almost all in the room except for Kyle and Tess who were not part of their lives then.

"Kathleen Topolsky. I see from your reactions you are aquatinted with her. She was placed in a position - top secret, of course in Roswell." Agent Simm's face grew sad, "Within weeks she was a different person. She knew something major, something big that she had discovered. One day she called me to say that her cover was blown, and she was heading home.

Only she never arrived. Two months passed and I heard nothing. Not one word, and then all of a sudden she showed up at our apartment," he paused again and took a deep breathe.

No one made a sound, realising the importance of this revelation.
"She looked bad. She had bruises all over," his voice was softer now, the memory painful, "and she was scared. Her eyes were haunted. She refused to stay. She told me she was as good as dead - they wouldn't let her go. And she saidshe said that she had to save the kids.

Obviously, I had no idea what she was talking about. And she refused to say - she didn't want to endanger me. She said one more thing before she left - disappeared for good. She said she left some files for me to find, only I could find them - she put them in a place where which only I knew about. A month later I received word that she was dead, in some fire at some crazy house. She wasn't crazy, you know."

He looked at all of them to gage their reactions, but focused on Maria. She was the one he knew best. She returned his gaze steadily and so he decided to continue.

"It took me eight months to discover the files. She hid them away where it would be difficult for anyone to find them. Instead of files, I kept discovering these little clues she left all over leading to the next one like a treasure hunt. I didn't totally understand her paranoia at the time but I believed in her, and she died for this so I didn't give up.
When I finally did find the files, a part of me did think she was a little crazy. Aliens - please. And from Roswell, how obvious. It was too cliché'ed.

Of course - that was until I saw the pictures of the little list they had on the lot of you. A neat little list with all the corresponding files and information," the agent stopped there. He noticed the looks they exchanged every time the file were mentioned.

"I assume by those looks, you know about the files?" he queried.

"We took the last copy they had. We didn't know Topolsky had
made another one," Maria replied for the group, figuring the agent
already knew so much, it would be pointless to keep it from him.

"I figured that."

"Why did the pictures convince you?" Liz asked him.

"Good question, Miss Parker," he answered, "It's simple, really. Part of me had been wondering if my fiancée was a little of the charts, like the FBI suggested. I mean it all sounded a little unbelievable and I had been searching for a long time. The picture convinced me because as I was reading all this stuff - imagine who I discover is mixed up smack bang in the middle of it all?"

"Me," Maria stated flatly.

"You," he agreed. "Now why would one of the best agents I ever trained turn out to be a 16 year old. Why would a 16 year old impersonate an FBI agent to receive training. It was a little curious, of course. Unless all that Kathleen said was true. So I believed it. It wasn't a hard jump to make - you understand. I loved her and I needed a reason for her death."

"If you have known for the last five years, why didn't you say anything?" Max questioned.

"I thought about it, but Kathleen wanted to save you. They were still watching me, because of my connection with her and I couldn't risk it. I did keep a discreet eye on you, just to make sure you were fine. Plus I knew that we had taught Maria or Agent Sandler enough to get you'll out of a few tough spots. And you did discover Kathleen, and she was a good agent. I figured you could take care of yourselves, despite the fact that you were kids."

"So what's changed?" Kyle asked, "If you never planned on contacting us directly - why bring this procession to our home?"

"That's simple, really. In the last few years, I have gone up the chain - for a lot of reasons, mainly to be kept in the loop about strange and unusual things. We had a suspicion that they were evil aliens out there, and my information already told me that you were the good guys, even if I did nothing to share that information. With the disbanding of Pierre's Special Unit and the loss of all files, you were of our radar and for Kathleen's sake I was determined to keep it that way."

"You prevented any further investigations," Isabel queried.

"Not exactly. I just made sure that any information about you was buried and stayed that way. It wasn't too difficult. You guys appeared to be like any normal kids attending college. I didn't have to do much."

"Thank you for doing that for us," Tess said and the others all nodded in agreement.

"I didn't do it for you, not entirely. I did it because Kathleen's last words was to protect you. And I did for Maria," he looked at her now, "Whatever your reasons were for training you were special and you didn't deserve it."

"Thank you," Maria said to him

"Now what? Why now?" Michael asked, blunt as always.

"Now I need your help. You see, a couple of weeks ago, you were caught on surveillance equipment breaking into a skin compound and rescuing some POW's. A few people pretty high up saw this and did some investigations. They found out your identities and because they dug pretty dig, they traced a few enquiries I had made back to me."

The fear came back. It didn't matter that it been years since the defeat of the FBI - what they had been through still had the power to scare them. They were too old to react recklessly now, so they stayed and listened to him. He had in his story convinced them he was trustworthy, even if Michael's arms tightened around Maria's waist and Liz grabbed Max's hand in a tight grip. Tess leaned back into Kyle and Isabel placed her head on Alex's shoulder. They waited for him to continue.

"They came to me. I didn't tell them anything immediately but they did manage to convince me that coming to you would be the right thing to do," he turned to the man sitting erect next to him, "You may recognise him - the Chief of Armed Forces."

End Part 21

Part Twenty Two

After the introduction, one which made, in lieu of the man's straight military bearing, all them sit up straight except for Michael who never took very well to authority, the man who been silent till now began to speak.

"I did some research. It turns out you are the only people that have successfully managed to beat the Zarians," he began, "I am going to be brutally honest here. We are losing this war. Our intel is practically non-existent. None of our weapons appear to work on them. America is in a bad state. Even worse, our leadership is almost gone. The President hasn't recovered from the loss of his family or his injuries and so far isn't capable of leading the War Effort. Recent developments have forced our hands - and led us to you," the general paused and gave them an unblinking look. They were all listening intently waiting to see where this would lead.

He seemed to make a decision to tell them whatever he was holding back and continued, "The Vice- President of the United Stated of America was captured two days ago. The Public isn't aware of this news. We want to prevent an all out panic although at this stage its too late."

They were all shocked. That was big. Major in fact. "How can we help?" Maria asked him, "We'll give you all we know about the Skins but what else can we do?"

"You have been waging war against them. We have no government left. You are our last hope. We need you to train the men left. And lead some battles," the General replied.

"You what?" Tess asked.

"It's simple really. You know the enemy best. You are the only people with any experience fighting them. You're all we have got," the General replied.

Another man cut in, "We're losing. It's been two months and we haven't won a single battle. Our army is the most powerful in the world and we can't beat this. Nuclear weapons are out the question with civilians involved, and even if we do decide to drop one - there is no one to make the decision. We're desperate."

"Let me get this straight. You are going to let some college kids lead the war?" Michael asked, disbelievingly.

"Not lead the war, exactly - just train those who are fighting how to win. We'll give you whatever you need," the General replied.

"I brought them to you because I know you, Maria. You can't turn this down. Besides those alien powers of your husband and his friends have to come in useful, right?" Agent Simm's addressed his questions directly to Maria.

"Give us a few minutes to discuss this. You are on the level, right?" Max said.

"We don't have time to be anything but level. We'll wait in the hallway," Agent Simm's said before leading the way out the room.

With them out the room, a number of voices rose up immediately. Everyone spoke at once and no one heard a thing i.e. until Liz yelled at them to shut up. Liz raising her voice was a rare occurrence so when she did, they tended to listen and there was silence for a moment.

"What do you think we should do?" Alex asked.

"I don't know," Maria replied, a little subdued.

"I think that they are telling the truth. I did a mind-patrol and the Vice President has really been captured," Isabel said.

"Isabel!" the exclamation came from Max, Liz and Alex.

"What? How else were we supposed to know that this isn't some big elaborate set-up?" Isabel replied, a little indignantly, "We are in the middle of a War, you know?"

"She's right, guys," Tess said, "You know we can't just go with them unless we trust them."

"Agent Simms is trustworthy, I think. He always seemed like a pretty good guy to me," Maria put in.

"I believed him about the files and Topolsky. He definitely loved her. You could see it in his eyes," Michael stated.

"I believed him too," Kyle said.

"So what do we do? We go with them?" Tess asked.

"We agree. All together what to do," Max said.

"Going seems to make the most sense," Liz said, a little cautiously.

"Well, we can't fight the skins by ourselves forever. There's too many of them," Alex said, "I think we go for it."

"It'll give us more men and equipment to fight. We might actually win. I say we go for it as well," Kyle agreed.

"Me, too," Isabel and Tess said together.

The group turned to look at Michael and Maria. Michael was looking at Maria. They were in the middle of one of their internal conversations. They waited impatiently before Maria nodded almost inconspicuously at Michael and he turned to face them.

"Okay, we're in" he said.

"I'll call them in," Maria said and stood up gracefully from her position, half on Michael and half on the couch.

A few seconds later, the men came back into the room, and waited for the verdict.

"Did you come to a decision, Maria?" Agent Simms addressed his question to the one person he knew.

"Yes, we did," Max answered for the group, "We'll join you. Help you train your people."

"You do have to let us make the decisions on when to attack, however," Michael put in, "We have a lot of experience dealing with the skins - we know how they operate."

The General exchanged a couple of glances with the two men next to him, before turning to face them. "Agreed," he said, "We've already had the best we have transferred to a Boston base. You will begin immediately."

And it was with those words, 8 college kids took control of an army base, an army and taught them how to survive - a skill they had mastered in their short lives.

The 8 of them trained the men in skills long forgotten. Guns being useless in the War were carried but not focused on. Kyle brought back bow and arrows to use, a more effective weapon in hitting a skin where it hurt. All soldiers were taught the various weak points on a skins figure - his Archilles heel, so to speak - a training process Liz took to, making charts, etc - biology her main expertise.

Maria and Michael worked on the plans to infiltrate and tested
the skills of those they had, with Max while Alex moved straight
into surveillance and intelligence department.

Isabel and Tess had a much harder job - the two of them were in charge of checking out all the players. Letting in their secret to the world wasn't something any of them relished, and they were not going to release their location without some sort of precautions. They knew that the skins had lived undetected among humans for a long time, and they were weary of any still undetected.

War isn't fought on the battlefields after all - it dependant solely on surveillance and intelligence of your target, and the basic rule by which all survived was, 'Get to know your Enemy.' It was because of this, Tess and Isabel did mind-scans on everyone in the compound.

The two of them, the strongest in mental powers were chosen because of their previous experience in this department. For once no one objected to what was essentially an invasion of privacy, although Isabel and Tess kept the scans light and basic - just to check out if anyone was not being above board. It was a sensible precaution, that led to at 5 enemy infiltrators being uncovered, and their first success in leading the war.

Taking over a job so large as this had many downsides - and before they could lead the army they had to earn the respect of the men. That wasn't easy. The men and women in the army were already anti-alien, and it would take some time before they were willing to trust them. However, having Michael and Tess married to humans, and Isabel and Max in serious long-term relationships with humans did help.

The problem became a non-issue after the first mission that they led. The mission was to rescue the POW's from the largest concentration camp, to their knowledge. Michael and Maria planned it carefully. They took great care with this because they had more to deal with and the unknown element of an army members they were not quite sure of yet.

It was a success - they lost a total of three men, a lot less than any of the previous missions and rescued all the POW's totally destroying the camp, on they way out - in what was to become a tradition for them. It was the day the press gave them the nickname 'Humanities Hope' and the day the army realised that whatever happened, Michael, Maria, Max, Liz, Kyle, Tess, Isabel and Alex would die to protect them and live to free them.

For the first time, since the invasion a hope that was all but lost to them came back. They hadn't won any battles yet or defended their homes, but they had a victory. It was a small victory, almost insignificant to everyone but the POW's they had rescued but it was the beginning of what was to become the new rule, a benevolent rule whose number one priority was to save those under it from an enemy bound and determined to destroy it.

Still, it was an actual battle - the first under the new rule that cemented their position as leaders. The first rescue mission was a highly controlled event that gave them respect but the battle made the men willing to die for them. They didn't win the battle. On the contrary, they lost - after all the Skins were a much more powerful army, and they were only at the beginning.

But it was at the battle that the armed forces witnessed for the first time their leaders fighting along side them, willing to go down with them. They lost many on that day, but it wasn't a total massacre that the previous conquests were.

This time they were able to go home, to retreat. They limped - but they got there. And instead of a battlefield littered with bodies as was the previous occasions, the army was able to salvage its pride and take their injured to medical centres that Max set up, and give the dead a proper burial.

The funeral was also, ironically the day the army fell in love. It was a mass funeral and everyone attended. It ended with Maria singing Amazing Grace. Her voice, so beautiful, so sad and so full of loss made jaded men and women cry. It made Generals tear up and families heal. And it gave the men a sense of determination to revenge their comrades deaths.

From this day whatever ups and downs they had, battles won and lost that occurred - the thing that mattered most to them was, at least they were fighting and not just lying down and giving up their world.

End Part 22

Part Twenty Three

2009, July
Rebel Territory

Since the first crystal had been found, the Royal Eight had spent many hours debating the subject, in addition to all their strategy meetings and war room discussions. While the flash Maria experienced and the memories Tess recovered was enough to confirm the use of the crystals in war, they were a number of problems in implementing this weapon.

The first was a big problem. Roswell and the surrounding desert had fallen into enemy hands over two years ago. It was one of the first places to fall. Thus it made the granolith for now totally inaccessible. The second hitch in the plan was even more problematic. The crystals could only be recovered if the girls got pregnant and so far that seemed unlikely. The eight of them had been living together for many years. Although they all wanted children, it had seemed unlikely considering the mix of alien genes that were thrown into the pool. That was of course until Maria's unexpected pregnancy.

Her pregnancy, although untimely if you considered her position in the war was one that was received with joy by all. It not only brought hope of other kids to the eight but also was a sign of hope that the war would end and the skins defeated. The baby was a symbol of a victory still to come. Yet the chances of further pregnancies seemed unlikely for the moment. No one wanted the joy of a baby to be tainted with the use - the use to receive a flash and win the war.

It was decided eventually, to let whatever will be, happen. They would fall pregnant when it happened. And for the rest they would continue as is. Although the crystal they did have already was a weapon, after many meets the decision to retain it was made. This decision encompassed many reasons. The granolith, a necessary element in the weapon was at the moment unattainable. While a strike on Roswell would be essential in the future - to do it now was foolhardy and premature. That strike could only occur when more crystals were found. In addition to that, none of them were willing to give away the secret weapon and using it too early would only allow the skins to prepare against their ultimate destruction.

The crystal was taken to the hidden base in Boston, where it was secreted away - until the time to use it was right. This was their home. After the house had been destroyed by skins, the eight decided it was best if this location was kept secret. Unlike the other bases they had around the country, this was only occupied the 8 of them, with the parents being the only other people aware of its existence and its location. During the two years of war, little time was spent there - their duties taking them all over and their presence required in other places, but originally all war efforts had been decided there.

The base was special to them. It had been built by their own hands and resembled a home. It contained things important to them and had all the necessary requirements for both running a war and a normal life. Not even the commanders in their army were aware of where it was situated - the secret heavily guarded because of the skins ability to extract information via mind rape.

It was because of the location of their secret home base that another, much bigger base for all the soldiers was also built in Boston. That base was accessible via tunnels that linked the two. They were built as escape routes from both bases. In addition the bases had various well guarded exits in numerous places.

In the meantime life continued on as was. The battles fought, people rescued and land defended. Except for one change - Maria's pregnancy. The baby became the most important person in all their lives, someone to cherish and protect. She was the future and the present. She became what kept them all going. One thing was definite, the baby didn't just belong to Michael and Maria, she didn't just belong to the eight of them. This baby belonged to the world. She was to inherit it
from her parents, from her aunts and uncles.

But first there was still the little matter of her birth. Maria was 8 months pregnantand it was almost time. The last two months had been difficult for Maria. She was tired all the time and even stopped arguing. It scared the hell out of all them, human/alien pregnancies new territory for them. Michael had to transfer energy to her more than once. The theory they had, since the baby seemed fine for the most part, even if her mother wasn't was, that while humans could carry a baby that was part alien, it required a lot more energy. After Maria had passed out twice, Michael in a total panic ordered Maria (with Max's total medically backed approval) to a complete bed rest.

A day later he decided that the front lines were too stressful for his wife and talked the rest of the group, without much effort into backing him up into convincing Maria to go to Boston. Much to the disgust of Maria, she had been packed of to their Boston Home for the last month of the pregnancy. Liz, Isabel and Tess accompanied her. And the guys were going to join them for the last week, the rigours of war making it impossible to get away sooner.

The reason all the girls were going with was because of Michael. Isabel and Tess were going to provide energy if the baby needed it and Liz and Amy were going for moral support. Unfortunately, being right in the middle of a series of battles for the lands of Texas - Michael couldn't leave immediately. But already he was organising the passing of his reins to the General - the Chief of Armed Forces so he could be with Maria as soon as possible - separation not something either were used to, or dealt with well.

And that was why three days later Liz Isabel and Tess were in the middle of an interior decorating disaster. One might wonder what an interior decorating had to do with a war but the answer was simple really. While Amy finally got a chance to fuss over Maria, the three soon to be aunts decided that for once all of them were going to forget all the skins and be normal. The three of them made a deal with Amy to keep Maria out of the way, and decided to build a nursery for their new niece.

Building things, with the added incentive of alien superpowers wasn't difficult. In no time at all they added a room to their home, and moved Max and Liz's things out of the one next to Michael and Maria's room. Then they built a door between the two rooms and renamed the former bedroom a nursery.

And that's where the problem came in. Decorating the nursery. The room had been changed three times already. The walls painted twice and the new furniture shifted at least 6 times while the three aunts argued over what was best way for the room to look. Liz wanted pink and lace. Isabel was determined that no self respecting niece of hers was going to like pink and was all for purple with little clouds, and Tess wanted teddy bears. Of course it never occurred to any of them to ask Maria, since this was supposed to be a surprise. But now all of that was moot. The colour of the nursery walls was the furthest thing from their minds, when their decorating plans came to an abrupt halt with Liz's unexpected flash.

Liz was in the middle of a painting the one wall pink over some teddy bears Tess had already determined was to be there when it occurred. She wasn't touching Max when it happened. Or even with him. On the contrary, there was half a continent between them. The flashes were detailed, yet it took only a couple of seconds for them to complete.

It was the gasp she couldn't help releasing and the paintbrush falling to the ground almost in slow motion that alerted Tess and Isabel. They rushed over to her to see what was wrong. The information Liz imparted didn't take long - the decision on the other hand did.

Liz's first instinct as always was to go and ask Maria - years hadn't changed that part of their friendship. She restrained herself, knowing Maria wasn't in any shape to deal with this now - and they all had strict orders, not to mention daily reminders from her worried husband not to trouble Maria with anything.

In addition, they all knew Max, Kyle, Alex and Michael were in the middle of the third battle that week and not in a position to help. It was all that that led to the decision - one the three of them were all aware no one was going to like. They were going to proceed without bothering the others with the flash.

The odds of nature probably determined that at least one of four crystal would be an easy recovery and luckily for them this was it. Of course that didn't bode well for the remaining two but that was the future.

Liz used the system in the war room to determine the whereabouts of the crystal in her flash while Isabel and Tess took care of the details, and packed some equipment that might be necessary - flashlights, digging equipment, some weapons, etc. Tess spoke to her step-mother-in-law and without giving away too many details let her know what was going on, just in case.

Placing the backpacks on there shoulders and taking one last look at a sleeping Maria, the three girls left somewhat reluctantly, leaving the nursery in a strange disarray of pink, purple, teddy bears draped in lace and clouds plastered on the ceiling.

"Okay, it's not far, " Liz said, "Only about an hour's drive from here. And its in our lands."

"At least we don't need a helicopter this time like Maria did," Tess said a little relieved. While all of them had learned the basics of flying helicopters - a necessity in the beginning of the War - it was well known that it was Tess's least favourite thing to do, one she only did when absolutely necessary. Well known, that is to the 8 of them. Revealing a weakness to anyone else wasn't something any of them did at all.

Isabel was driving and following Liz's instructions while Liz poured over the map. Tess was making sure that no one followed them or caught them unaware. Being ill prepared for an attack, even on their own lands was not a safe way to run a war. Using one of Alex's scanning gadgets she constantly scanned the area for any heat signatures denoting presence any unwanted visitors.

They arrived at the relatively secluded area where Liz said the crystal was buried in extremely good time - due to the total lack of traffic on the roads. Citizens tended to stay in doors during wartime. Army trucks and jeeps were the only vehicles that you saw travelling along the intercity roads. Only in times of evacuation did the traffic increase.

The girls didn't waste any time at all and using the trees and rock formations in the area as guides Liz pinpointed the spot where her flash detailed as being the hiding place of the second crystal. It was buried pretty deep, but with little bit of help from Tess and Isabel it didn't take long to find the box.

It didn't appear to have any openings. Liz took it from Isabel's hand and immediately a print appeared on it. Slowly Liz placed her hand on the print and it began to glow before the box slowly began to separate into two revealing a bright crystal that was a deep red - a ruby.

Liz carefully lifted the crystal and held it in her hands. The crystal emitted a soft glow around it leaving the pink reflection on her hands. Her eyes looked away from the mesmerising sight and met Isabel's and Tess's. The girls looked stunned.

Without a word needing to be said, the three began to pack up. Liz placed the ruby back into its case and silently the box closed. Using a few minutes to cover up the evidence of their digging, Isabel replaced all the dirt to cover up the hole that had just been dug up. Getting into the car the three women began the trek back to their home. They were not looking forward to the outburst they were expecting to receive.

End part 23

Part Twenty Four

"Stop. Stop the car. Now."

The girls were on their way back from the retrieval site when Liz yelled suddenly. Tess slammed on the brakes and Isabel and Liz flew forward.

"What? What's wrong?" Isabel asked anxiously from the back.

Liz didn't answer and got out the jeep. Tess and Isabel followed her and watched worriedly form the side when in quick motion Liz turned around and threw her arms around both of them, a rather difficult feat for the petite girl considering Isabel's height.

Then she started to jump up and down, really freaking out her two friends. Their expressions cleared when at the top of her voice Liz began screaming, "I'm pregnant."
As if that thought suddenly just occurred to them, which it did, since all of them had been rather distracted by the search for the crystal - the girls began to jump up and down as well.

"I have to tell Maria. And Max. Oh my God - I have to tell Max," Liz said. And promptly sat down in the middle of the field next to the jeep.

"He'll be happy. You saw how he goes on about Maria - he's almost as bad with her as Michael," Tess said reassuringly, collapsed next to her. Isabel daintily in very regal manner also sat.

"I'm not worried about that - of course he'll be happy. Its that I left, without telling him. You know how he gets," Liz replied.

"She's right. He's going to freak. My brother is a major control freak."

"Oh, please. As if you're any different," Liz said, defending her boyfriend loyally.

"Come on, Liz. We all know that Max is worse than all of us. Well except for possibly Michael and Maria. And with those two I can't decide if its control issues they exhibit or protectiveness - its kind of hard to define. They are the strangest people I know," Tess mused out loud.

"True. I guess. To both parts. I can't wait to get back and tell them. Nothing seems real somehow until I tell her," Liz said.

"She has that effect on people. I heard Michael say the same thing once," Isabel said.

"Plus her reactions are so fun to watch," Tess added.

"Yeah, they are. Do you know when I told her about Max and you and Michael she ran screaming out the house."

"No way. Real screaming?" Tess asked.

"Top of your voice screaming," Liz replied, smiling at the memory.

Isabel started laughing, "Why am I not surprised?"

Liz's amused expression changed, "Wait a second. What if I am not pregnant. I wasn't with Max when the flash happened. What if we were wrong?

"Breathe, Liz. I'll check for you. Calm down," Isabel said reassuring.

Tess began to breathe slowly with loud audible breathes to calm Liz down and get her to follow her example. She had seen Michael do the same with Maria when they were practising from some birth book in preparation for the birth of their baby. Isabel in the meantime laid her hand on Liz's stomach and closed her eyes to try and form a connection. While healing was not her forte she could do basic stuff, and this was more of a combination of healing and connection - connections being something Isabel was good at with her dreamwalking experiences.

Her eyes shut, Isabel made her way through the fog that was the dreamplane towards the nearest light sources. The dreamplane, sometimes but not always took the form of the outside - the physical plane and often the nearest people to her in reality were also the first she saw on the dreamplane when she went in without a picture to direct her. This was particular true when she was touching the person - in that case the connection came much faster.

As she neared the lightsources, Isabel paused slightly. What had appeared to be one lightsource was actually two. The second one was however much smaller and practically hidden behind the bigger orb. Isabel moved closer and stared in awe at the two orbs. There was a tiny little stream of light particles connecting the two orbs and another tiny stream leaving both orbs and disappearing into the distance. 'Max,' Isabel thought to herself. She could feel bits of her brother through that light stream. She reached out her hand and lightly touched the baby orb, and immediately felt herself drawn in. The baby, it was perfect. Moving slowly, Isabel checked to see of everything was alright before moving out. Just to be sure, Isabel checked Liz's vitals as well to see if she was fine before reluctantly leaving the beautiful sights of the dreamplane and slowly returning to reality.

Her eyes opened and she found Liz's worried eyes looking at her. Tess had one hand on Liz's shoulder reassuringly.

"It was beautiful," Isabel said dreamily, "You both are fine."

"Really?" Liz asked.

"Uh-huh. Everything is fine," Isabel answered with a big smile and the other two smiled in return.

"I don't get it. How could you get a flash when you were alone. I mean you haven't seen Max in two days. It doesn't make sense," Tess said, now that everything was alright.

"Maybe the pregnancy took a while to take," Isabel suggested

"That's not possible. There is only a limited period after you know that you can get pregnant," Liz said.

"Exactly. For human cells. But we are talking about alien cells here," Isabel cut in.

"Isabel has a point," Tess added.

"But what about the poem. I thought one of the requirements was a connection. Tess, how does the poem go again?" Liz rational side was asserting itself.

"Lets see, it goes like this:
The Four must each a vision be
But only by connection between all three
To destroy thine enemy
And their worlds free."

"See, there has to be a connection with all three of us. Me, Max and the baby," Liz said.

"But there is, Liz. I saw it in the dreamscape. Maybe you always had the link or maybe the baby created it but there is a link connecting all three of you together."

"Great. See, that's all sorted out," Tess said in relief.

Liz stood up, "Well, come on then. It's time we headed back then." The others stood as well.

She got in the jeep. "Drive," Liz commanded.

"Yes, ma'am," Tess gave Liz a mock salute and shifted gears before hitting the accelerator. They were going home.

End part 24

Part Twenty Five

Max didn't speak to her for 4 days. It was the first time any of them had seen Max display any significant anger at Liz and it surprised all of them. Maybe, to a certain extent those days were increased by the fact that Max was still in Texas - warfare a rather pressing business. However, the matter of the crystal did make all of them wrap up business there and return home sooner than was originally planned.

The others didn't take it too badly. Alex yelled at them for a bit, and Kyle made a little fuss. Michael was the one they had worried about the least but he in some ways made them feel the worst. He gave them all this looks, the I'm-really-disappointed-in-you look kids get from their parents sometimes - apparently he was getting an early start on the whole parenting business. Whatever the manner, that look made them feel really guilty especially after they had a little hindsight to work with. It hadn't occurred to any of them that anything might happen to Maria while they were gone, and nothing did. But the possibility gave them all a scare.

Maria was the only one that took the news well. She was proud of them for recovering the crystal with minimum fuss. To her the retrieval just brought them all on step further to a war that had already claimed too many lives. She yelled at Max for being a total idiot, when the guys arrived from Texas and gave Alex and Kyle long lectures on the legitimate and politically correct way to behave. Michael managed to escape her rantings on the girls behalf because for the first time in his life Michael hadn't actually yelled at them.

Unfortunately, the fact that Maria was on the girl's side, and Michael even managed to have a little talk with Max on his unreasonable behaviour, a nice reversal of roles - all that made Max dig in his heels more, rather the same effect it always had on Michael. Liz, deciding she had been apologetic enough decided to ignore her boyfriend completely until he came to his senses and act the way he was supposed to act.
And for the first time ever, Max and Liz were involved in a full scale argument. Now, people fight especially people in relationships as long term as 8 of them had, but not Max and Liz. They never fought. Ever.

And quite frankly, it freaked a lot of people out. It was bad enough seeing Michael and Maria in their tender moments - those they could handle since a minute or so later they were bound to be arguing again. But having Max and Liz not talking was not good for anyone's health.
Maria, in a typical manner decided to fix everything and in the way she always lived her life took that job very seriously. She went into labour.

Three whole weeks early. The result - a passed out Kyle, Isabel without make-up, a totally freaked out husband, a terrified mother, and a pacing Alex. It also resulted in Michael almost strangling Max for not making the pain go away quick enough, Liz being totally hysterical for at least the first half an hour before calming down enough to hold Maria's hand and Tess racing up and down fetching things (necessary or not) for the birth.

The entire process, if one looked back was actually quite hilarious. While all of them were expecting the birth they didn't expect it right then - and their reactions would have made the Army rethink their leadership positions if any of them had seen the Royal Eight on that rather memorable day.

In fact the only person that was calm at all, was the person that had the most reason not to be. Maria. Then, again on the other hand - she really had no choice. Even her doctor, Max, who had delivered other babies before, looked frazzled. And Michael was practically making her dizzy. He went from sitting by her side, making reassuring sounds to her, to pacing around at fast speeds, running poor Alex down more than once, to threatening Max with bodily harm if he didn't make her feel better.

Between calming Michael down, convincing Liz she was fine and hysteria was not an option, telling her mother "No, she was not going to die," stopping Tess from behaving like the Energiser Bunny on Speed, and reassuring Max that everything was going fine, Maria was feeling a little tired. It didn't help that Isabel had totally lost all her legendary icy cool, or Alex his usual steadiness. Kyle decided the whole process was beyond him had passed out at Maria's first scream of pain. He didn't even wait for the blood. Of course that meant it was one less freaked out person Maria had to worry about because once she made Isabel put a pillow under Kyle's head and Alex drag him out of the way so he wouldn't be trampled by anyone pacing or his wife's panicked racing around, Kyle was fine. And more importantly quiet.

Finally Maria had had enough. She got up after her what seemed like the millionth contraction, stood with difficulty and to everyone complete shock walked out the room. They were too surprised to do anything.

"Maria, where are you going. You have to give birth. The baby."
Michael raced after her.

"I am going to where I can do that in peace and quite. Away from you lot," his wife called back. Her words were enough to get them all in motion. They all moved to stop her and practically pushed her back into bed.

Kyle chose that moment to wake up from his passed out state, "Is it over yet?" and Maria's scream as she started another contraction answered his question and had Kyle slumping back down. It had all of them laughing, and for a few minutes the tension was broken. Everyone calmed down.

Alex stopped pacing and Tess stopped racing. Max stopped focusing on the fact that this was his best friend giving birth and started to concentrate on the birth itself. Isabel devised a system for all of them to take turns sitting by her bedside during the birth and Liz started to practise breathing with Maria. Even Amy calmed down.

And as for Michael, he sat down next to his wife and took control. Looking deep into her eyes, her hand grasping his tightly he started a connection. With the link he already had with his wife and baby, the connection took less than a second and it was enough to calm everyone down. Her breathing slowed and the pain left, absorbed through their link where Isabel, one hand on Michael's shoulder healed it.

The labour was a short one for a first baby. But it was an entirely human labour. It occurred quickly and progressed even faster. Within minutes the baby was ready to be born. Michael sat on one side of Maria, with Liz on her other side. Max was at the bottom, making sure everything was going the way it was suppose to go.

"I see the head. Oh my God," Max shouted.

"What? What's the matter? Is there something wrong with our baby?" Michael said in a panic.

Max ignored him and looked at Liz, who was watching him worriedly like everyone else in the room.
"We're going to have a baby," he said wondrously to Liz.

Liz smiled at the look on his face. Their fight was now officially over.
"Yes, we are." The others in the room sighed in relief. At least nothing was wrong with the baby. Max stood up and picking Liz up he swung her around and around.

"Oh my God," Max shouted again.

"Now what?" Maria said, rather impatiently. While she was happy Max was finally behaving the way he was supposed to, this was not exactly the time for him to have an epiphany.

"We're not married," Max said. Suddenly he dropped on one knee and staring up at Liz he said, "I know we were not going to do this until the War was over but it would do me the greatest honour if you would be my wife," he continued, hardly pausing for breathe - this was not something he had planned after all, and he like Liz did prefer to have things planned, "I know I don't have a ring yet but"

Liz just stared at Max in complete and total shock. And everyone else stared at Liz, waiting. When her speechlessness didn't appear to be ending any time soon, Maria finally cut in.

"Yes. She says yes," she shouted, causing everyone to return their attention to her again, "Max, if you don't get your head between my legs again in the next second and catch my baby, I am going to" and she stopped and started to breathe heavily.

Max ran over to Maria again, everything else forgotten and everyone else galvanised back into action. Liz took her place by the bed again Michael started to breathe in unison with Maria, and Tess did the same.

"Okay, Maria. Its time to push now."

"No. I won't do it," Maria screamed.

"No. What the hell do you mean no?" Alex stopped pacing and stared incredulously at his best friend.

"I don't want to do this, anymore," Maria said and grabbed her husband's hand in a grip so tight, he winced, "Michael, make it stop," she said piteously.

"Honey you have to. Everything is going to be fine. You'll see. We'll have a beautiful baby girl and"

Maria shook her head repeatedly, "No, its not. I don't know how to be a mother. And the war I can't do this."

Alex walked up to her and bent over her looking her directly in the eye, "Maria Ursula Deluca, you stop that right now. You are going to be a great mum. I don't know anyone more qualified. And"

"You think so?" Maria cut in, looking for reassurance. Immediately everyone nodded.

"Of course, you are, Maria," Isabel said taking her hand from Liz.
"The best mother ever," Tess put in.

"Maria, you have to push now."

"Everything is going to be fine, Maria," Liz added.

Amy walked up to her daughter and smiled at her, "You are going to make me a grandmother, baby. I know you' scared, sweetheart but this is going to be real easy, you'll see. Honey, you have been taking care of people your whole life - I can't imagine any one more suited to the role."

"Promise, mummy."

"Promise, sweetheart."

Maria turned to look at her husband. He sent her a wave of calmness, burying all his own fear to be strong for her and she nodded, "Okay. I'm ready now, Max."

And that was how little baby Deluca-Guerin was born. Three weeks early. To a panicked family. To the world. A princess. A hope for the future. A saviour.

"Welcome to the universe, Ariel Hope Guerin." It was the first thing Michael said to his baby girl, silent tears running down his face as he watched his wife hold his baby girl for the first time. He wasn't the only one. Isabel, Tess, Liz and Amy were also crying and though they might deny it there was certain brightness in Max and Alex's eyes as well.

"Is she here yet?" And Kyle sat up.

End part 25

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