"What was what?" Tess stumbled, visibly flustered.

"How…what….how did I see into your dream, or whatever, and what was my brother doing there?"

"Dream walking is an alien skill. My mother has it, and so do I to a certain extent." Jill said from behind Tess. She pushed past Tess and approached Rob. "We can go into other people's dreams, see what they are dreaming, and sometimes actually participate. I'm guessing that you have that power too."

"Partly." Tess admitted, regaining her voice. "One of my powers…I can plant images in people's heads…I drew you into my dream. I wanted you to believe me…I wanted you to see me. I thought that this might be the easiest way."

"And Kyle? You wanted me to see that part about Kyle?"

"That was an accident…I lost control of my dream, and my human part, my subconscious, took over. I fell asleep, I guess…I didn't mean to show you that part."

"Of a dream? What is Kyle doing there in the first place?" Rob roared.

Tess struggled to find words to say. "Uh…eh…so…"

Jill stepped in and saved the day. "Rob, there is a lot you don't know about our parent's pasts…"

"And you do?"

"As of late, I've become an expert."

"Huh?"

"Alex…my Alex…was friends with all of our parents. Yours, mine, Casey's. He was even my mother's boyfriend."

Rob wrinkled his nose. "Isn't that kind of gross?"

"Rob, I did love your father." Tess said, gently and hesitatingly reaching out her hand and laying it on her son's shoulder. "From a very young age, as long as I can remember, I was told about Max, and our previous life together on Antar. He was my destiny. He was supposed to love me, and I was supposed to love him." Tess sat down on the bed next to him. "But by the time I was reunited with him, he'd already fallen in love with Liz. I can't tell you how much of an outsider I felt like. Everything that I'd been promised- a family- was stolen from me."

Rob sat silently, gazing into Tess' eyes.
She sighed and continued her story. "The summer of 2000 was not a fun time for me. But the fall brought change, the best and worst of my life."

"Huh?"

"Nasedo died and transferred his esscence into my body, leading to Alex's supposed death and my betrayal of my family. But in the fall I also moved in with the Valentis."

"My family?" Rob was stunned.

"They were my family too. It was so wonderful to be included, to be part of something. The Sheriff was like a father to me, and Kyle…Kyle was like a brother at first, someone to annoy and fight with…but he became more…my best friend…and I fell in love with him."

"WHAT?" Casey squeaked. "This is like, so weird. Jill's boyfriend was actually her mother's boyfriend, and you were in love with her father, where Rob's father loved Liz and she loved him, but he got together with you? This whole thing sounds like something caused by something seriously high on drugs."

"It's the truth."

"So how? How did you get together with Max? How did I happen?" Rob asked, taking his mother's tiny aged hands in his own large, young hands.

"By May of that year, Nasedo had fully taken over most of my body and mind controls. Only every once in a while could I actually do what I wanted. He hypnotized me and your father into doing what he wanted. He awakened some of our past memories, and overloaded our biological urges. You were the result of all this."

"How…how did I get to Antar if everybody else was here?"

"Nasedo…Nasedo wanted to get home. You and I were just insurance that he would get to live safely back on Antar. He…he was going to kill you if I stayed on Earth. I had to get back to save you."

"I just seem to be a problem." Rob said, pulling away from Tess and standing up, restlessly pacing. "My very existence has ripped apart everything."

"No!" Tess exclaimed. "You are the only thing that has kept me alive, the only thing that kept me sane. I lived so that you could live. I can't regret…I can't regret anything that led to you. If all I had to go through, if every tear was the price that I had to pay to give birth to a precious and perfect child like you, then it was worth it."

"I'm not perfect." Rob muttered. "I have faults, I'm stubborn, I burp too loudly.."

"You're my child. And to me you are perfect."

Rob turned around and pulled Tess into a hug.

"Momma." He said with tears running down his face. "Momma."

"So we'll start the project tomorrow, Tess?" Liz asked, taking a small bite of the still piping hot pizza.

"Project?" Rob said, looking up from his own plate of pizza.

"Oh look at the time" Jim sighed. "Amy, Anna, Chad, it's time to go bond as a family and watch "Sydney"."

"Dad, that's all we've done today." Chad whined. "Can't we just do something fun?"

"Don't be silly, son. We have had an event filled day, with bombs exploding, alien healings and all other sorts of stuff."

"But besides that all we've done is watch TV."

"Chad!" Jim ordered. "Living room. Now."

"Do you know what mission he's talking about?" Rob asked Alex.

"It both sucks and blows, and is pretty impossible." Alex said, with a groan. Apparently Jill didn't change her mind after all.

"Tess wants us to go back in time and change things." Jill said with a soft sigh.

"What things?"

"Her betrayal of everyone, Alex's death, take your pick." She said, grabbing the bottle of Tabasco from Casey.

Rob frowned. This wasn't right…wasn't there some sort of Temporal Prime Directive that stopped people from doing that sort of thing…No, that was Star Trek…but this wasn't right.

"But if you change time, then…would we exist? Jill, Casey, and I?"

Tess looked uneasy. "Not exactly."

"Not exactly? You love me so much that you don't want me to be born?" Rob yelled, using his powers to hurl his plate at the wall. "Some mother."

"It's not like that!" Tess exclaimed, and grabbed Rob's hand.

Once more images filled his mind

Jill was coming down the stairs, dressed in a velvety material. She held her head high as if she expected to be revered.


"Miss, what can I get you?" A servant asked her. The servant had rags for clothes and appeared to be very dirty. Rob couldn't tell if the servant was male or female, for the hair was in a buzz cut.

"Nothing, Anna. Your lack of competence never ceases to amaze me." Jill said, shooing the servant away.

Rob gasped. That was Anna. Bright, beautiful, intelligent Anna Teresa Valenti. How could anybody do something like this to her? He wanted to interact with the Anna, hug her and protect her, but his powers were useless in this vision.

"Lady Casey, what is on the agenda today?"

Casey walked in, wearing an outfit similar to Jill's. Her stomach was rounded, she was obviously pregnant. "The rebel execution." Casey said, her tone dismal. "By order of the High Commander."

"Bring him in." Jill commanded.

Rob's heart thudded when he saw the face of the rebel.

It was Chad. Chad was being led into this chamber, struggling.

Chad was being killed.

Chad, the little brother who put bugs in his bed, Chad the brother who snuck in the backseat of Rob's car and joined him on his first date, uninvited.

Rob felt the hot, harsh sting of tears in his eyes.

"Do you have any last words?"

Chad stood up straight, and looked Jill in the eyes. "I am proud to die for what is right. For truth. For humanity. Goodbye, niece." He said with a voice full of disdain.

This was a vision. Just a vision. Not what would happen. Just a dream. Chad was alive. Chad was alive.

Rob wanted to turn his head, to yell, to scream, as Jill killed Chad.

But he couldn't.

It was the most horrific sight.

Jill walked away, remorseless.

Casey leaned down and closed Chad's blue eyes. Then she lifted her heaving frame and followed Jill.

Anna was the lone mourner over the body.

The vision ended as quickly as it had began.

"What was that?" Rob yelled. "CHAD? CHAD?" he yelled, running out into the living room and tackling his brother.

"Dude…" Chad said as Rob knocked all the air out of him. "What is it?"

Rob looked up at Tess, still cradling Chad in his arms. "What was that? Why did you show me that?"

"That was what did happen." She said in a sad voice. "That was the future I arrived in."

"Who? What? What happened?"

"Khivar turned you away from your family. You and Jill, the most powerful of the next generation of children. Jill's sisters and Casey's siblings didn't follow you. Your wife, did, of course."

"I don't understand."

"The king…the person giving orders to Jill and condemning Chad to die…was you."