"I can't just trust you, Tess. I tried that before. It didn't work. Alex…Alex wound up dead because of that."

Tess shook her head. "He…he was never dead…Alex was mindwarped so much that he went through the Antarian equivalent of evolution. He was a spirit- more than just a person weighed down with a psychical body. He transcended space and time."

Casey rolled her eyes. "Not to mention that he juliannes fries…"

"So what it is it, why do you need my help Tess? What is it about me, and Casey, Jill, and Alex…speaking of which, Jill, why was Alex carrying you?"

Jill blushed.

"In ten years, the war will take over this planet, as well as Antar. It will rip your world apart, and split your family in half."

"As if." Liz countered. "All it is, is lies."

"Khivar will not stop looking for the heir. Although all the kids have been taught to hide their powers, they will slip up. And when they do, he will catch them. He will catch them, he will hunt them, he will bribe them, he will kill them. They are nothing more than collateral to him."

"Who is the heir?" Casey spoke up.

"My son…Max's son. It's almost like he is somewhere nearby, but I can't tell exactly where. I feel him. He's grown up protected, unaware of his powers. He'll die without ever knowing…and I don't even know his name…He's in hiding now, even for me?"

"And you never find out?" Jill asked incrediously.

"Liz died before she could tell me."

"What?" Liz snapped.

"You went to rescue my son from Khivar…I never really entertained any idea that you would do such a favor for me, it was all for Max. I could never understand how devoted you were to him, Liz, until that moment. I held your hand as you lay dying. Your mission failed….both you and my son died…and I've come back here to stop all of this before it ever began."

"I died?" Liz said, running her fingers through her slightly graying hair.

"You've never been one to give up on a cause, Liz. You followed this one to the very end. It was almost as if…almost as if you knew you were going to die. You told me about Future Max, about how you threw away a wonderful future…I envy you, Liz. I envy the way you can be dedicated and fully care about people. If I was more like you in the first place…maybe none of this would have ever happened.

Liz's expression softened during Tess' speech. She still didn't trust Tess fully, but she willing to see what project would be asked of her.

"And why me?"

"I know about your studies in time travel. It's been somewhat of an obsession for you, hasn't it? You know that it's possible, but you don't have the equipment. I have the equipment, but not the knowledge. You will make time travel possible."

"What about Casey? Why did you want her along as well?"

"She is going to be one of the travelers. She's studied with you, Liz…she's good. Casey can handle the technical aspects of the traveling side of the mission."

"And who would travel?"

"I can't Liz, and you can't either. If we were to go back in time and see our double, both of us would cease to exist. The same goes for Alex."

"Jill?" Liz said, pointing to the stairs. "She's a child."

"And how young were you when you ran from the FBI? How young were you when you visited a town full of skins? How young were you when you wanted to take off on a flight to Sweden, without even having a passport? Jill is grown up now, Liz. She's the one that can do this mission."

"What about Alex?" Jill spoke up. "You said he was important too."

"Alex is the heart of the mission. Both you and Liz love him. And you both want him to have the past he never had."

Jill exchanged a glance with her Aunt. It was a weird glance at best, each seeming to be evaluating the other, now that new and unusual evidence had been brought to light.

"I thought you weren't going to do this." Alex said, taking Jill by the shoulders. "I told you not to throw your life away!"

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or even the one." She sighed, grabbing his hand and kissing it.

***

Liz and Tess were sitting at the kitchen table, having a very much needed discussion. Each gripped a glass of coffee in their hands, but it grew cold as their minds were on the past, not on a liquid refreshment.

Casey sat on the sofa in the living room, flipping through the TV channels.

"I can't believe Sheli's just taking off and leaving for Egypt! She has friends, she has a family? And what will happen to poor Bonnie and poor Brendan?" She muttered, trying to keep her mind off of her best friend macking with her boyfriend in the corner.

Her boyfriend who was the same age as her parents.

The slightly off world of Sydney was a lot more stable than the real world of Roswell right then.

"Oh, they go out for a little bit. Kind of turn to each other in times of need like thing?" Jill said, sitting down beside her best friend. "Until that is, Bonnie goes to New York for the summer. She brings back this guy, Zan, from New York, and they are really bad. And Sheli and Brendan end back up in the periodical room."

"Wouldn't it be better if the nookie room was one that locked?"

"What, you expect them to have an eraser room or something? Get real. TV shows aren't that realistic."

"You didn't come over her to tell me about Sydney. You've called me once since you moved here. Girl, we pratically lived at each other's houses. And now you've just dumped me.."

"I didn't dump you. Things have just…bloomed."

"You're in love. You didn't even tell me you met anybody. The last thing of intrest you said to me had to do with a ghost in your house."

"Alex."

Casey craned her head around and looked at Alex, softly playing piano music over in the corner. "I still can't believe he was a ghost. I thought ghosts were all disgusting and vapory."

"He's not disgusting is he?" Jill sighed.

"Not at all!" Casey seconded. "He's amazing."

"Do you forgive me? Oh, Case, it's all changed so fast. I don't know how to explain it."

Casey shook her head, and her long, brown curls bounced. "If I wasn't forgiving, I would have given up on you a long time ago, Valenti."

Alex smiled as the two girls smiled and laughed. Casey was clearly Maria's daughter, with outspoken language and movements. Her hair was the same color as Michael's, and she seemed to have brushes of paint in various places on her clothes, and the same "You annoy me" body posture when pissed.

If only he could spend the rest of his life with Jill, loving her, and meeting her friends like Casey…

But to get back his past, he would take away her future.

***

There were some pretty bad things about being an alien.

Such as the eternal drive for sweet and spicy. Casey's favorite snack consisted of pixy sticks and extra hot salsa on Jalapeno flavored chips. Everyone in her family, even the other hybrids and second generation aliens couldn't stand the combination. So of course Jill didn't stock that in her house. And she was forced to make a late night run to the grocery store. A girl did have cravings.

She held on to the cart, and daydreamed. One day she would have an incredibly handsome, loving man who would be completely devoted to her. And if he acted up and didn't treat her right, she'd kick his…

Casey shuttered as she plowed into the back of a person bending over to get a bag of Nachos.

"I am sooo sorry." She exclaimed as she helped the guy up.

"It's ok" he said in a soft New Mexican accent. "It isn't every day a beautiful lady runs me over. I kind of enjoy the attention."

"Oh well, then I'll do it again." She replied without thinking. If only this guy wasn't so good looking, with his dark brownish blackish hair and dazzling blue eyes. She had a thing for blue eyes. Her own were a shade of golden hazel, but she always admired Jill's eye color- when she was little, before she knew about her powers, she tried to use a blue crayon to change her eye color. Needless to say, it didn't exactly work.

He laughed. He liked this girl. She was different then the local girls, the ones that played hard to get. He hated trying to figure out what a girl thought, and what she wanted. Dealing with his mother and sister were bad enough. All the girls in Roswell were so fussy, so wrapped up in themselves. They would play it cool, and joke around. But this girl, this girl with a mass of brown curls blushed. That was attractive…very attractive. He fiddled around with the pocket of his leather jacket. "So you're not from around here?" Very smooth, he chided himself.

"No, I'm visiting from Florida…my best friend…she has weird cravings." She said, motioning to the items in the cart.

He smiled, an easy going grin that melted her heart. "What's so weird about Pixy Sticks? I love them. And I'm the only one in my family that can even handle Tabasco."

"Tabasco is essential." She agreed, her curls bouncing. "It's one of the main elements of life."

"I like your smile." He said, not believing the words floating out of his mouth.

"Thanks. People say I inherited it from my mother."

"Oh? Would you mother mind me taking the smile, and you…out sometime?"

"I think my mother would definitely approve…"

"Rob."

"I'm Casey. Casey Guerin. And your last name would be.."

"Valenti."

"Valenti as in the Sheriff ? Valenti as in you have a cousin named Jill Valenti?" Casey's face paled.

"Guerin as in Maria?" Rob's face matched the shade of her own.

"Yeah…I guess I haven't seen you since I was little…Rob…and you SURE have grown up…uh.. I've got to go."

"Uh…yeah…bye.." Rob said, grabbing her hand in a quick, polite, handshake.

Sparks flew up and down his arms.

He watched Casey flee for safety.

There was no way a cousin could cause him to have THAT sort of reaction.