A/N: HERE'S CHAPTER FOUR. SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. IT'S NOT THE MOST EXCITING OR CREATIVE BUT I PROMISE IT WILL GET BETTER IN THE NEXT CHAPTERS. I'LL COME UP WITH SOEMTHING TO BRING MAX AND TESS TOGETHER. HOPE YOU LIKE THIS ONE. IT'S NOT IMPORTANT. JUST SHOWS SOME STUFF ANDTIES THINGS TOGETHER. I'LL WRITE MORE TO MAKE UP FOR THIS CHAPTER. IT'S BORING, I KNOW. SORRY TO DISAPPOINT YOU. ANYWAY, REVIEWS AND IDEAS PLEASE. ENJOY.

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Ava leaned down on the crib and picked Lex up. The baby crooned and she smiled.  "Sorry I had to leave you." She whispered as she cradled him.

Lex looked up at her, his deep blue eyes that reflected hers, filled with so much innocence.

"We're going for a walk." She declared aloud when she sensed that Khivar was in the room.  Ever since her return to Antar, she had learned to feel when Khivar was in the room, like she had a radar that detected him. 

He said nothing but just walked towards her. "It's not safe outside." He declared, glancing out the window.

Ava scoffed, glaring at him. "Safe? You were the one brilliant enough to put my son's life in the line by testing your stupid little theory on whether he'd survive on earth. Don't tell me it's not safe to go outside." She said sarcastically.

Khivar grinned; fighting back the urge to slap her. Sometimes she was so spiteful that he just wanted to hurt her.

But it came with the territory.

She was alone, and he assumed afraid too. She had no one but her son, who was vulnerable and fragile right now. She had no choice but to be cruel to him who threatened her the most.

"How was your trip to Roswell?" He asked unceremoniously.

Tess inwardly flinched.  She didn't turn back to acknowledge that she was panicking. How the hell did he know?

Ava wasn't surprised. He probably had someone tail her which scared her even more. He could know everything. Then why wasn't he doing anything?

The questions in her mind were making her paranoid.

"Checking up on me, Khivar?" She said smoothly.

"Just making sure the queen is safe." He smirked.

Like you care, she thought bitterly but refused to say it a loud.

"How long are we staying here?" She asked, turning to face him. She wanted to change the subject and besides, she wasn't asking about something irrelevant. She really did want to know how long they were going to be here.

Maybe if she had more time, she could come up with a plan. For something. Anything.

"As long as we have to. We're going to win this war and not even you will be able to stop it." He said; his voice low and menacing.

"I don't intend to." She lied coolly.

He watched her cautiously, his eyes filled with suspicion. He didn't trust her. He knew the feeling was mutual. They came from opposite sides but Khivar knew she was easier to sway, easier to talk to.

She may be stubborn but there were qualities in her that he admired, qualities that Vilandra used to posses. Courage. Courage to fight for what they believed in.

That's what they both had in common.

Both women had the courage to betray their family. All for the sake of love.

How pitiful, he thought as he walked away.

Ava waited for him to leave until she let herself relax and sit down. She looked out into the garden that surrounded the house that she was virtually kept prisoner in.

They were in a small house on the outskirts of Alamogordo, a city right next to Roswell. Why Khivar picked the house they stayed in was beyond her. She had expected him to take them to a secret base where he would plan their attack on Max and his family.

She sighed remembering that just a few hours ago; she was talking to Michael and Kyle. It hurt to see them again, to see the pain and hate  and betrayal in their eyes.

She had hurt them more than she expected.

She betrayed them but what choice did she have? It was either all their lives or just hers to sacrifice. So she picked hers. Let them live.

They had more chances of being normal than she did. They had spent years on Earth, blending in with full blooded humans. They acted human, they talked human and their memory of their past lives was not complete enough to forever change them.

As for her, she was never fully complete. Nasedo had taught her that being Antarian was stronger, more powerful. It gave her edge that the others did not have. It prepared her for anything.

Antarians sacrificed lives for the greater good. They saw the bigger picture. Humans on the other hand acted based on their emotions. It blinded them, he once said. And because of that she wasn't allowed to share the gift that humanity had.

She carried all the memories of their past and as a child she was robbed of that innocence.

Ava sighed hoping that Michael and Kyle would listen to her and not do anything that they would all regret.

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Kyle ran his fingers through his hair one more time as he and Michael walked over to Max's front door.

"What's the plan again?" Kyle asked in a small whisper, looking around nervously.

Michael frowned at him, obviously displeased. "I told you already. Stop looking nervous. He'll catch on right away. We have to do this right." He declared determinedly.

Kyle sighed nervously. "I know. We promised her." Kyle stated.

Michael nodded as he knocked on the door rather loudly.

"Here goes."

Max answered a few minutes later.  "Hey." He said; his voice flat and emotionless.

"Hey…uh, can we come in?" Michael asked expectantly.

Max nodded silently, moving out of their way to let them through.

"So what's going on?" He asked immediately, sensing their discomfort.

"Something big is going down." Michael declared, refusing to sit down and relax. He was going to tell Max as much of the truth as possible without letting him know of anything about Tess.  Why he was lying to his best friend was beyond him. 

"What exactly do you mean by big?" Max asked, looking somewhat uninterested.

"As in big army, big bad enemies, big that we can't handle." Michael declared.  So far, so good.

"Oh." Max said skeptically.

"Oh?" Kyle echoed.

Michael shot him a look that said, don't piss him off. "Max, I suggest we leave Roswell immediately." Michael insisted.

"I thought we were going to do something to get rid of it." Max stated, looking at them suspiciously. For someone, who was being passive these few days, he wasn't acting like it anymore.

"Look, Max, we don't think that's a good idea." Kyle declared.

Max looked at him skeptically, mentally wondering on why he was here and how Kyle knew about this before he did.

"Kyle's right. It's not a good idea. We're not powerful enough for this. Look, we have an informant. He said-" Michael began to explain but Max cut him off.

"Since when did you have an informant?" Max demanded.

"A month or so." Michael lied smoothly.

Max sighed disapprovingly. "And why is it that I wasn't told about this?" He asked, annoyed that he had been left out.

"Well, you've been a little preoccupied lately." 

Max glared at him slightly, not liking the tone he was using. Something felt strange about Michael's sudden information.  It did not sit well with Max at all.

"What's this informant's name?" Max inquired.

"Dylan." Michael replied. So far, everything was going according to plan. Max was slowly beginning to believe them.

"A human?"

"Hybrid." Kyle whispered.

"A skin then." Max corrected warily.

Michael shook his head. "No, not skin. A hybrid like us." Michael clarified.

"I want to meet him."

"He's dead." Kyle quickly said. "We found his body where we were supposed to meet him. We think that his bosses we're catching on."  He explained so that Max would not ask to much already. 

"Why would they kill him instead of bait us?" Max questioned them suspiciously.  He looked at Michael, then Kyle, then back to Michael again.

"That's something we don't know. But before he died, he called us and said that he was really important and very dangerous."  Michael explained. 

"And I'm supposed to listen to a dead guy's warning who was probably our enemy trying to deceive us?"

Michael sighed, feeling impatience creep up on him. "Max, we trusted this guy. He was loyal to the royal four."

"Well people tend to betray us these days." Max said bitterly and neither Kyle nor Michael knew what to say.  They knew he was talking about Tess and bringing her name up was making them even more edgy.

"Maxwell, listen-" Michael began but Liz ran in just in time and interrupted them.

"I saw Tess." She gasped breathlessly.

Michael and Kyle paled.  This is not good.  Michael silently told himself

"Jesus." Kyle nervously whispered but no one heard him.

Michael mentally made a note to thank Liz later for her great contribution to ruining the plan that took him and Kyle almost three hours to come up with.

"What?" Max asked sounding shocked.  For a moment he looked hopeful.

"She's dead, Liz." Kyle interrupted, his voice sounding more convincing that any of them anticipated.

"No, you don't understand. I saw her. I looked out the window of the Crashdown and I saw her just standing outside and then she disappeared." Liz explained.

"Like a ghost?" Michael asked mockingly.  If that was what it took to get Max doubting Liz's claims, then he was willing to make Liz look stupid right now.

Liz glared at him. "Whatever. I saw her." She argued.

"That's not possible because our informant told us that she was dead." Kyle declared, coming up with the idea on the spot. Michael shot him a look. That was not part of the plan.

"He said this?" Max asked.

Kyle and Michael nodded somberly. Please, let this work.

Michael looked at his friend and replayed Tess' words in his head. Duty came before anything.  Anything.

He was assigned to guard Zan in his past life and now, he was asked to do the same again by his Queen. He had to watch over him. Max or Zan, whatever he was supposed to be called, was his king and best friend and like always, his life would come first.

Michael was going to do anything to keep him safe even if it meant lying to him.

"This doesn't sound right." Max mumbled. "I need to talk to Isabel." He said walking away. He needed to think, to sort everything out. Nothing was making sense.

Something felt off. Kyle and Michael seemed suspicious and he didn't know whether to believe Liz.

Tess was dead. Khivar would have no need for her. She was supposed to be dead.

Right?

"Max?" Kyle called after him.  "Just…we're in danger here. Think about that." He said hesitantly. He did not really know what to say. He just wanted to make sure.

As much as he wanted to tell Max and save Tess from the evil clutches of the bad new king Khivar, he couldn't. He and Michael had weighed out their options already, ran through all the possible scenarios and they were sticking to not telling Max.

They promised.

And that was final.

Five hours later, with Michael and Kyle still in the Evans' living room, Max walked in with Isabel.

"We talked." He said indicating his sister who just nodded. "You're all right about this. We are in danger. Isabel has known for a while and she warned me but I didn't listen." Max sighed, feeling defeated.

"You did?" Michael asked. Crap. Isabel knowing anything was not part of the plan.

"Yeah, I had this bad feeling for a while; like a war is coming. And I've noticed that people have been following us." She said grimly.

"Following us? When?" Kyle asked.  A third party could ruin everything. 

"Yeah. Just people. I don't know them but they're always where we are." She said, squinting her eyes as if trying to recall their faces.

"This isn't good." Kyle said, more to Michael than the rest but it went unnoticed.

Michael nodded grimly. "Where's Alex?" He asked, noticing that he was missing.

"Home. He's packing." Isabel replied.

"So, I guess we're definitely leaving." Michael stated, unable to believe it.

Max nodded and said a small, "Yeah. Meet at the Crashdown in two hours. We're leaving Roswell tonight." He said and they all scattered to go about their own business and say good bye to the people that they were going to leave behind.

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"You mind telling me what's going on?" Jim Valenti demanded anxiously as Kyle walked back and forth in his room, hurriedly shoving clothes into a relatively large duffel bag.

"We're in danger. Got to leave Roswell." He replied cryptically. "I suggest you come with us." He said, looking over his shoulder.

"You're hiding something." Jim whispered, his cop instincts kicking in. "I think I know you well enough to know when you're lying. Does this have anything to do with Tess?"

At the mention of her name, Kyle stiffened and Jim immediately noticed it.

"How about you explain it to me now, Kyle, because I'm not falling for this we're in danger crap. We're always in danger. Why leave now?"

Kyle sighed deeply. Great Buddha, give me strength to lie to my father, he silently prayed as he turned to face him.

"It does." He said, unable to believe that he just said that. "More or less. You remember Khivar right?"

Jim nodded.

"Well, Michael and I found out that he's back and he's going to kill Max." The words came easier than he expected. "And we can't fight them. We're not ready. We're not strong enough." He added.

"So you're going to run? It isn't like Max to run from his problems."

"Well, things change, Dad. So do people.  And we all believe that this is the best solution." Kyle said defensively.  "Our only solution."  He added, hoping that it would do the trick. 

"Is she back?" Jim suddenly asked and for a moment Kyle panicked.

"What do you mean?" He asked. He was going to play this off, fool his father.

"Tess."

"She's dead, remember?" Kyle icily said continuing to pack his things. "Dad, can you just start packing?" He asked, sounding more irritated that he had intended.

"I never believed that she was dead." Jim declared before walking away.

"Great." Kyle mumbled.

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Jim Valenti looked over at Kyle who was looking out the window quietly. Liz, Maria and Isabel were all huddled in the back, all lost in thought.

Max, Alex and Michael were in Alex's jeep, all somber, refusing to talk to each other.

They were all headed out of Roswell.

Isabel had left a letter to the parents on behalf of herself and Max explaining everything except the alien part.

She couldn't make herself say it. She was too damn afraid. Afraid that she might hurt them with the truth, that they might not love her anymore.

She was leaving behind her whole life. Everything that she worked for, she was going to abandon. She had spent years building a life, trying the best she could to be normal, to be part of the rest of the world and now there was nothing.

She was going to run.

At least she was going to leave with her dignity and the people she cared about. At least she would always have Max and Michael and Alex and the rest of the gang.

Strange how nothing mattered anymore except survival.

"We'll be okay." Kyle whispered to her when he saw the look of worry on her face. He didn't just say it for Isabel but for the girls and his father and himself too. He truly wanted to believe that it was okay.

That they were really safe but he knew they were far from that.

It had been surprisingly easy to convince Max to leave Roswell. Too easy.

And nothing was that easy.

Michael knew it. He knew it and Max sure as hell knew it. There was more to their story.

They were all in danger and no matter where they run, no matter how far it is, their problems would always catch up with them.

They were just buying themselves time before the whole truth comes out and then their world would fall apart again.

Max was going to be furious. He was never going to forgive them for lying and if he did, he was going to make them work for it.

Kyle sighed, wondering if Michael was thinking of the same thing.

They didn't even know where they were going. Just leave Roswell. That was the plan.

What then?

No one knew.


He hoped Michael was coming up with a plan or even Max. He was the leader but he was blinded from the truth right now so Rath or Michael will have to take over, even without Max's knowledge.

He knew the bigger picture. He knew the truth.

Kyle's mind drifted back to Tess. He hoped she was okay. There were things that he and Michael talked about. Things they wanted to ask her.

How she was. What happened? Where was the baby? And why? Why this? Why that?

But they didn't have time. Their days were numbered.

Kyle exhaled; his nervousness obvious to everyone around him.

They were all waiting for the other shoe to drop.