"Wake up, morning glory."

"Uhhh….go away."

"You've got to go to work."

"Don't wanna work."

"Are you going to play sick?"

"Sounds like a good idea."

"C'mon Jill…time to wakeup…" Alex said, leaning over and tickling her.

Jill shrieked and laughed, and rolled off the couch in an attempt to get away from Alex. She ended up pulling him down with her, with Alex pinning her to the floor.

"Alex!" she laughed, "Are you going to get up?"

"I'm not planning on it."

"I've got to go to work!"

"I thought you weren't going to work…"

"Alex!"

Her words were cut off as Alex covered her lips with his. Once again, Jill felt like she was being swept away—into a universe where only the two of them existed- until other images began to flood her mind- pictures, glimpses of a teenage Isabel…

"I can't." She said, pulling away and getting up. "Alex, we're just too different."

"Don't you think I know that? But I don't care. I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but I know that there has to be some reason I'm here now. And all I know is that when I think of you…everything seems right."

"Alex" Jill said, rushing into his arms. "You are the best thing that ever happened to me."

***

"Jill, you take this room, and I'll check the bedrooms." Rob addressed her. They had been called to investigate a house, a rental property that had been empty for awhile. The owner had checked out the house that morning to find someone living there. He had scared the person away, but was afraid he or she would come back.

Jill nodded, and began searching around the room. It seemed to be a normal house, albeit one that had been empty for awhile. For some reason, the house seemed familiar to her…almost like home.

She went to open the closet, and a wave of images flowed over her.


* There was a dark haired boy, putting his hand over the closet door. It was glowing.

"What are you doing? He's an FBI agent."

Jill turned towards the voice. It was her father, or a teenage version of her father. And the other boy, that had to be Uncle Max…even though the strong teenager had very little in common with the haggard man she remembered.

"If anything happens to my father, I swear I will kill you myself." *

Jill shook her head. That was too weird. Why did she get a flash of her father, here, and her Uncle Max? It didn't make sense.

"Are you ok?" Alex asked, rushing to her side.

"Just a little…dizzy…it's almost like déjà vu." Jill muttered, and continued her search.

And then she found it.

It was a small book, one that looked like it was made out of some kind of stone or metal. It fascinated Jill, completely grabbed her attention. There was a cut out symbol on the front, and she ran her fingers over it.

* Clouds, clouds, clouds. Clouds covered a world in green.

Symbols that should be familiar, laid out on the ground in front of her.. symbols that she knew meant something, only she didn't know what.

A square.

Tears. *

Alex watched as Jill seemed hyptnotized. "JILL!" he cried, growing paniced. "JILL!"

The vision continued for Jill, now with both audio and images, some of people she knew, and others that she didn't.

"So ancient languages…what does that have to do with our English assignment?" It was her father again, using that same sly voice he always used when he wanted some alone time with her mother.

"Absolutely nothing." The girl wasn't her mother. It was someone that Jill had never even seen.

Her Dad went in for the kill. "So what do you say we start speaking the most ancient language known to man?"

Jill rolled her eyes. That was such a lame line.

"I think it's on the top shelf. Would you mind helping me out? I've almost got it."

"So what language is this?"

"It's a lost language."

"So noone will mind if we don't find it." He waggled his eyebrows.

"Time to go."

"But we just got here." *

Images continued to flow through Jill. More with the girl, some with her father, and then some with Alex. Her eyes grew wide.

Jill threw the book down. Her eyes opened wide. "Alex…" She said calmly, before fainting into his arms.

***

Alex sat there, stunned, cradling Jill in his arms. What happened to her? What effected her so much?

He looked down and saw the book in her hands.

The book.

He'd spent so much time with that book, he could still remember the sequence of the symbols. He could still remember the feel of the book under his fingertips, the book made of metal that looked smooth, but felt rough.

What in the heck was the book doing here?

Alex heard Rob's footsteps approaching, and he laid Jill down gently on the floor. He wasn't sure how much about the Czechoslovakian heritage Rob knew. And he definetly didn't want to expose his secret ghosthood either.

Something about this place seemed familiar. The room was bare, and dust was gathered in the corners.

But the wallpaper. The wallpaper. The wallpaper that seemed like it was picked out by a blind man. He'd always hated that wallpaper.

The Valenti house. Kyle's house. The house where the Sheriff lived, until he married Amy.

The house where he had died.

How could he not notice it before hand? He'd been over to this house every day when he was little, and then again once things had changed. It was a lot more run down, more run down than the overworked Sheriff and his son had ever let it get. But this was not their house anymore. It was a house of memories, as dead as the flowers in the flower bed outside.

Something was going on. The house. The book. His existence. It was related somehow. It had to be.

But how?

Rob came into the room, and then rushed over to Jill's side. "Jill! Are you ok?"

She sat up, slowly, as if awakening from a dream.

"Yeah, I must have bumped my head. I'll be ok."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"The place checked out clean, but I'm gonna come back here later tonight and check it out."

"Do you want me to stay here until you get back? You can go get whatever you need to get done at the office, and I'll keep an eye and see if the trespasser comes back."

"Sounds like a good idea to me. And I'll tell you what…I'll bring you dinner…paid for by the department."

Jill smiled. "It's a deal, boss."

Alex remained silent until the patrol car left the driveway. "How could you do that, Jill?"

"How could I do what? I'm doing my job!"


Alex started to pace, and to ramble. "We can't stay here….I can't stay here….I died here. I can't stay here!"

"You died in a car crash, Alex. They thought it was a suicide." Jill stated calmly. "I read the newspaper articles."

"Excuse me, Jill, you have no idea what this is all about! I know how I died, I was there! You weren't anything more than an egg in your mother's body."

"I'm sorry I wasn't born at the same time as you! I can't play Scooby Doo, I have a job to do. If I'm so ignorant, tell me, Alex. Tell me. Tell me what happened."

"I was killed by an alien, Jill. Being that you're half alien, I didn't think that you needed to know."

"If we are going to have any kind of relationship, I need to know everything, Alex. And what do you mean? I know that Uncle Mike…or Mom…or Uncle Max…as desperate as he was to get home…none of them would have killed you…they were your friends…right?"

Alex shook his head. "It was not your mother, or Michael, or Max. There were four in the group…the Royal four."

"Who is the fourth?"

"I am." A voice sounded from the door.

"Tess…" Alex said in a whisper. "What in the heck are you doing here?"

Jill threw up the shield that her Uncle Max taught her to project so long ago. She felt safer for a second, confident in her powers. But if this woman….if this woman was an alien, a full alien, one capable of killing Alex…she could be perfectly capable of killing her as well.

Something strange happened to Alex when Jill's shield enveloped him. At first he felt all tingly, as if every nerve fiber in his body was suddenly…alive. Then he started to feel heavy, almost as if he weighed a ton. Everything in the room grew brighter…Jill, Tess…until….everything was solid…he could feel his heart beating…

Tess stared at the scene before her. She had finally found the girl…the girl who could be her key to setting things right…HIS daughter…and she reacted immediately in fear. She threw up a shield, a bright emerald green, just like Max's. And then the most miraculous thing happened…Alex appeared behind her. Alex. Alex who should have been dead for going on twenty something years.


Jill turned when she heard him hit the floor. She could hear his voice, and see his face, but she had never heard Alex move. He had scared her a couple of times, for his ghostly body made no sounds. But she heard a thump, directly behind her. She turned around, and she saw Alex.

"Jill!" He exclaimed, and grabbed her hand.

His hand felt different to her. It felt warm. He guided her hand to his chest.

"Do you feel it?" He said smiling like a maniac?

Her heart beat to match the frantic pace of his.