Frustrated, Jill went upstairs. Alex still wasn't back, and she missed him. The fact that he could leave freely now scared Jill. He didn't need her anymore- that special link they had shared was severed, and Jill felt cold and alone.

She attacked her room, or Alex's room…whichever way you wanted to look at it…Jill had let it get a LOT messier than her mother ever would have allowed.

She picked up a pile of shirts and threw them in the closet.

And out came a box of pictures. They spilled all over the floor.

"Oh great" Jill muttered and bent down to pick up the pictures.

The first was a photograph of everyone…her parents, Alex, Uncle Michael and Maria, Uncle Max, and Aunt Liz. They all looked so happy.

She'd never seen her Dad that carefree again. He was a goofball, but he tended to keep a certain amount of himself hidden and held back…only her Mom knew the deepest secrets and trials he kept to himself.

Aunt Liz was smiling. Liz always seemed halfway broken- as if something irreplaceable was missing in her heart. It was really bad when Max died…Maria and Isabel had to pratically dress her and lead her around. But Liz didn't look wistful then- she just looked YOUNG.

They all were.

This is was adolescence was supposed to be. Young and carefree, no consequences and lots of fun. Relationships, shopping, goofing off, not fighting for your life. Not burying your best friends.

She had the opportunity to make her parents young again. She had the opportunity to put the sparkle in Liz's eyes, and to take the weight off of Maria's shoulder. She could give Alex back the time he had lost. She could give Max back his life.

But in the process she would loose her life. If Alex never died, then her parents would not turn to each other for comfort and then fall in love. They wouldn't go to college, get married, and move to Florida. They wouldn't celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary on a cruise.

The next picture was of her mother and Alex, at what Jill guessed was the prom.

Touching the picture, she made her decision.

***

A noise startled Jill out of a deep sleep.

It was Alex- or the mutated version of him she created. "You came back." She gasped.

"I came back." He said, handing her a boquet of flowers. "Did you think I wasn't?"

"I was worried."

"We had a fight, Jill. It happens. I just don't want you to sacrifice yourself."

"But what if it meant stopping the world from ending?"

"Everything ends. There is a season for everything. You can't go around messing with the past without causing major damage."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore, now, Alex. I'm sorry."

"Me too. I love you."

"I love you too. I love you so much it hurts, Alex. I felt like part of me was missing when you weren't here."

"We are good together." He said, drawing her closer and kissing her all over her face and neck.

"Love me." She whispered hoarsely. "Love me."

***

There was a knock on the door.

"Not again." Jill groaned into Alex's chest. "What is it?" She called, covering herself with the sheet.

"I made breakfast. Then we need to start getting ready for the project." Tess' voice called. "And have you seen Alex?"

Jill sighed. "I'll be down in a little bit…and I'll tell Alex when I see him."

"What was that?" Alex said, stretching out on the bed. "You aren't ashamed, are you, of what happened?"

"No….I just don't want Tess knowing everything, Alex. I like to have a little privacy."

"Well, we certainly broke new ground in Alien-Ghost relations, didn't we?"

"You're not a ghost. You're alive."

"I'm an oddity. A weirdo. A freak."

"Join the club." Jill said, cracking a smile.

"Now pick something out of your horribly out of date wardrobe, and let's get going."

"It's not so bad."

"Goodwill wouldn't take those clothes, Alex."

"They might come back into style."

"As soon as Disco rises from the dead."

"Disco died?" Alex squeaked.

"You goober!" Jill laughed and smiled as Alex came out of the bathroom.

"Goober?" He said, scratching his head. "What?"

"Don't worry…it means that I like you!"

"I happen to like you too, Miss Valenti!" Alex said, picking Jill up and throwing her over his shoulder. He smacked her butt. "And apparently you inherited the great butt gene from your father."

"Please. He ruins the mood. Now let me down."

"NO." He said, smacking her butt for emphasis. "Not gonna!"

"Aleeeeexx!!" She whined as they descended the stairs. "Put me down!"

"Not on your li…" Alex's words trailed off suddenly.

There was a moment of silence, until Jill finally wiggled out of Alex's grasp and fell to the floor with a noisy crash.

Rubbing her sore behind, she stared at the reason Alex had stopped.

Standing in the middle of the living room, wearing identical shocked expressions, were Casey and Aunt Liz.

Didn't anybody ever call before barging in anymore?

***

Liz stood transfixed.

That was Alex.

Alexander Charles Whitman. Her best friend. The boy who had carried her for a mile when she broke her leg on a bike trip. Her friend who almost disowned her when she kept a secret from him. The friend that could always make her laugh. Her friend who was dead…who had been dead since 2001.

But yet he was standing up there, on that last step of this very house. And his chest moved. In, Out. In, Out. In, Out. Alex was alive.

Finally, she ran over to Alex's arms.

The tears came rapidly and fast. "Oh, Alex…" She said as he gently rubbed her hair. "You are Alex, aren't you? This isn't some sort of trick, I couldn't stand it. Tell me you're real."

"I'm real, Liz." He said, crying himself. "I'm here."

"How can this be?" she said, studying his hands, taking his pulse. "You died. Tess killed you. You died."

"Not exactly." Tess said from the doorway. "Alex was never died. The mindwarp—on Antar it is used as a way for priests to gain enlightenment- it allows the mind to go to another level. When he thought he was going crazy, he was only evolving."

"What are you talking about?" Liz said. "I know what happened, I was there. You are a murderer, Tess, and I can't believe that you would ever show your snakelike face in this town again."

"She's not the murderer, Liz. She was Nasedo's puppet. We connected, and now she's here, trying to set things right."

"You can't erase the past." Liz spat. "I can't trust her." She said, gazing over at Jill with disbelief. "If you knew the pain she's caused…"

"Liz, you know better than anybody that the past can be changed. And that's one of your greatest regrets."

"How did you know that?" Liz yelled, walking over to Tess and staring her in the face. "I never told you that."

"Yes you did." Tess paused. "You told me 10 years from now, as you were dying. You told me a lot of things, Liz."

Liz stared at Tess. "What is this all about?"

"I need your help Liz, and Casey's, Jill's and Alex's. I have to make things right again. And I can't trust anybody else but you."