Title: Rosmole (9/10)

Author: Kata (katayla@juno.com)

Disclaimer: Oddly enough, they still don't belong to me.

Rating: PG

Author's Notes: I'm not quite sure what happened with this part. I got to within a couple paragraphs of the end of this part and then I just…stopped. Well, actually, part of it was the business of getting ready for college and then settling in at college. But mostly it was just me being lazy. J Sadly, this story is drawing to an end. One more part and you'll have all the answers.

*****

Ten friends playing for up to one million dollars. Among them a saboteur, a traitor, the mole.

"Where exactly are we going?" Maria asked as she, Isabel, and Michael climbed into the mole van, parked outside of their castle-like hotel.

"Into town," Anderson answered. "It's all part of the next challenge." He stepped into the van and closed the door.

Michael groaned. "Haven't we had enough challenges?"

"Not quite," Anderson said, with a sympathetic grin. "Don't you want to win more money?"

Michael perked up. "Another challenge sounds great!"

"Don't be greedy, Michael," Maria said, as she lay her head down on Michael's shoulder. "How long will it take to get there?"

"Not long," Anderson replied, as the van pulled onto the main road. "Ten, fifteen minutes."

"Oh. That's not long enough for a nap." Maria lifted her head of Michael's shoulder.

"You did have all last night to sleep." Michael pointed out.

"I know. I couldn't sleep. I'm too suspicious of everyone."

Michael shrugged. "I slept. These middle age beds are great!"

"Leave her alone, Michael." Isabel spoke up. "Not everyone has your talent of sleeping anywhere, anytime."

"Probably a good thing, too," Maria said, sticking her tongue out at Michael. "Or we'd have as bad of grades as he does."

"Hey!" Michael protested. "I don't always sleep during class."

"That's true." Maria tilted her head. "Most of the time you just skip them."

"You could help me out, Anderson," Michael complained. "It's not fair. Two girls ganging up on me."

Anderson held up his hands. "I'm just the host, Michael."

Isabel smiled. "Are you afraid of two girls, Michael?"

"No. I'm afraid of you and Maria! There's a difference."

"Poor baby." Maria relented, rubbing Michael's arm.

"That doesn't help," Michael said. "Now you're treating me like a little kid."

Maria shrugged, and then leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. "That better?"

"Never mind." Michael slumped back in his seat and pouted for the rest of trip.

"Here we are," Anderson announced, as they all piled out of the van. "Right in the center of town. See?" He pointed at a handwritten sign that had been posted on a nearby lamp. It read 'center of town.'

Isabel rolled her eyes. "You guys need to get a life."

"I thought it was funny!" Anderson defended himself. "Let's move on. This next challenge is worth $20,000. You three seem to know each other fairly well. This next challenge will test how will you know the executed players. Each of them told us their most embarrassing moment. Your job is to match up the embarrassing moments with who said them. If you get at least four right, you win the challenge. Miss more than three and you won't earn any money. Make sense?"

"Sure," Maria said. "But couldn't we have done this back at the hotel?"

Anderson frowned. "And miss this beautiful town?" he gestured around at the dingy buildings.

Isabel rolled her eyes. "I don't think you're in the same town as I am."

Anderson shrugged. "It's a change of scenery. You guys have been sitting around the hotel all day. Anyway, ready for the challenge? Come here." He led them across the street to where a white board had been set up. "As you can see, the seven moments have been written on this white board. Here are cards with the names of the seven executed players. Put the cards next to the correct statement. You have one hour. Good luck." He walked off.

"Alright," Isabel said. "This shouldn't be too bad. We've known everyone for a long time. We probably witnessed most of these moments, right?"

"I'm not sure, " Michael replied, reading the statements. "Look at these. 'My mom told my crush that I liked her,' 'I was the only one to wear a Halloween costume to my first boy/girl party…' These are hard!"

"The last one is Alex," Maria said. "Remember? He spent weeks on that costume-- I think he wanted to impress you, Iz-- and everyone laughed at him."

"Well, it didn't help that he was dressed up as a dinosaur." Michael pointed out. He stuck the 'Alex' card on the board. "That's one down. Either of you know who's mom spilled their crush?"

"No," Isabel said. "But at least we knew it's a boy, since the crush is a girl."

"Let's be logical about this," Maria said. "If you don't know about it, it's probably not Max. We already know Alex's most embarrassing moment. Kyle's mom left when he was a little boy, so it's not him."

"So that leaves Valenti," Michael said, and then frowned. "Do you really think it's him?"

"We can always come back to it," Isabel said. "Let's just put his name by it for now."

Maria nodded. "Okay. Here's the next one: 'On my first day of school, I had to try out for the school musical. Since I'm absolutely tone deaf, it didn't go well.' That doesn't sound too embarrassing."

"Yeah, but you can sing." Isabel pointed out. "It would be awful for me."

"Me, too." Michael agreed. "Who is it?"

"I've gone to the same school as Liz and Kyle forever, so it's not either of them." Maria volunteered.

"And it's not Max," Michael said.

"That leaves us with Tess or Maria's mom."

"Or it could be the Sheriff, if we're wrong about the last one," Maria said.

Isabel groaned. "Let's not second guess ourselves! Who do you want to go with?"

"How about Tess?" Michael suggested. "She's gone to a lot of different schools. She's probably had a lot of embarrassing first days."

"Sounds good. Next questions," Isabel read, "I told my basketball coach that I was sick and couldn't make practice. He came by my house to check on me and caught me making out with my girlfriend.' "

"Kyle. The girlfriend was Liz." Maria smiled. "She also lied about what she was doing."

"That was easy," Michael said. "Three more 'most embarrassing moments.' How about this one? 'On my first day as a waitress, I spilled three cups of coffee and dropped three plates of food.' Liz? It's not Max. What about your mom, Maria?"

"No, it's Liz. It was my first day, too. And I actually dropped more than she did."

"Wow. We're going fast," Isabel commented.

Maria nodded. "We won't even need the whole hour! Or a half-hour!"

"We will if you don't stop talking about it and read the next question," Michael said.

Maria stuck her tongue out at Michael. " 'My mom caught me sneaking out my window at midnight on a school night.' Max? I know he sneaks at to meet Liz all the time."

Isabel nodded. "It's Max. My mom woke up everyone yelling at him."

"So that means, 'My boyfriend told my mom he was having sex with me' is Maria's mom. Maria?" Michael turned to his girlfriend.

"Yes, that's her. She actually told me about that," Maria said, looking a little queasy. "Which you can add to the list of things I did *not* want to know!"

Michael rubbed her arm sympathetically. "Ah, poor Maria."

"The good news is, we're done!" Isabel announced. "Now we just have to wait for Anderson."

A couple of minutes later, Anderson arrived. "Hey! You guys are fast!" He looked at the whiteboard. "And good! You got all of those right." He frowned. "Whoever is the mole, remember you're supposed to hinder, not help!"

Maria laughed. "We just know each other too well, you can't fool us!"

Anderson shrugged. "Well, that $20,000 for the pot, bringing you up to $493,000. Your last challenge will be tomorrow morning and the last quiz will be the day after that. Until then, you can do anything you want." He paused. "That is, anything within reason. We would prefer you not to murder or steal."

"We'll try not to," Michael reassured him. Anderson gave him a thumbs up and walked off. "What do you want to do?" he asked Maria.

"Oh, no!" Isabel protested. "You two aren't going off and leaving me all alone."

"Well, maybe you're the mole and need to go talk to the producers," Maria suggested.

Isabel rolled her eyes. "If I were the mole, I would talk to the producers late at night, while everyone else was sleeping." Her eyes narrowed. "You know, Maria, you snuck out an awful lot while we sharing a room."

"Yeah, to see Michael!" Maria defended herself. "Michael, tell her!" she shoved him.

"Well, she is with me a lot," Michael said slowly. "Of course, she could just be using me as an excuse…."

"Okay, okay!" Maria said. "I really want to spend this afternoon away from the game, alright? Let's just go shopping."

"No, no! No shopping! You don't need to go shopping!" Michael yelled.

Maria smiled slyly. "Of course, Isabel and I could go shopping on our own, which would leave *you* free to meet with the producers."

"What? I'm not the mole."

"Oh yeah?" Maria asked. "That sounds like something the mole would say."

"True." Isabel chimed in. "I think we all need to spend the rest of the day together doing something like, say, shopping!"

"What a great idea!" Maria enthused.

Michael rolled his eyes. "Fine, you girls win. Shopping it is!"

"Yay!" Maria exclaimed, kissing him on the cheek. "I'll even buy you a present!"

******

By the next morning, the contestants' demeanor had grown serious. They had gathered in the hotel lobby for their final challenge.

"Oh, our last challenge," Maria said. "I can't wait for all the mistrustfulness and lying to be over, but-- it's so sad!"

Michael laughed at her. "Come on, Maria cheer up. You get to be a princess in this hotel. Much better than the first one we stayed in." He gestured around the room at the middle-aged splendor. The floors were concrete, but covered with warm rugs. Tapestries lined the walls and pillows were strewn around the room for people to sit on.

"I know I feel like a princess," Isabel said, from the lavender pillow she was sitting on. "I think I'll get rich someday and buy a castle."

"Because they're so common in Roswell," Michael said sarcastically.

"Well, I'll build one then!"

Anderson chose that moment to walk in. "Are you all ready for your last challenge? We decided to make this game a fun one."

"You're just going to give us the money?" Michael asked hopefully.

"Now where would be the fun in that?" Anderson asked.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Isabel said, laughing.

Anderson shook his head. "Never mind. Did any of you build forts when you were kids? You know, where you would take all the blankets in the house and put them over a table."

"Sure," Maria said. "What does that-- are you making us build a fort?"

Anderson grinned. "That's right. It has to be at least ten feet long. You know the drill; everything has to be covered, so it's all dark inside."

"Okay, but how do we win the money?" Michael asked. "And how much money is it?"

"$30,000," Anderson answered. "And to win it, I have to be able to enter the fort at one end and come out at the other end, without knocking any of it down."

Maria frowned. "You're not going to do anything to deliberately destroy it, are you?" She asked. "Because that wouldn't be fair."

"No, no," Anderson protested. "I'm on your side! I want you to win the money. You'll have one hour to complete the fort and you can use anything in this room. Have fun." He gave them a little wave and left the room.

"How exactly does this work?" Michael asked. "I never build a fort before."

"Never?" Maria gasped. "You must have led a deprived childhood! They're so much fun! Isabel, you know how to build a fort, don't you?"

"Of course," Isabel said. "Max and I spent one entire summer hiding out under out dining room table."

"It's easy, Michael," Maria said. "You just cover tables and chairs and things with blankets. Then you climb inside and it's all dark and spooky."

"Only we probably shouldn't use chairs." Isabel pointed out. "Remember, Anderson has to be able to crawl through it."

Maria shook her head. "We can still use them. See, if you put the chairs back to back you have more room underneath." She demonstrated with a couple of nearby chairs painted to look like medieval thrones. "Do you think we have enough chairs and things to make a ten foot long fort?"

"We must," Michael replied. "They wouldn't give us an impossible challenge. Look, that table must be four feet long. And those chairs make it, probably five feet long. We're halfway there already."

"Oh, and we have that couch over there," Maria pointed.

"But that's only one side," Isabel protested. "We need two sides to cover it in blankets."

"Oh," Maria pouted, then smiled. "Wait! We can just use those chairs on the other side of it."

"Great," Michael said. "Let's start putting this together. Maria, give me a hand with the couch?"

Maria rolled her eyes. "That's right. I'm dating you, so now you can just order me around." She went to help him anyway. They brought the couch over to the table and Isabel place the chairs across from the couch.

"The chairs aren't quite as long as the couch." Isabel realized.

"We can use something else." Maria looked around the room. "What about that display thingy?" She pointed to a cabinet that displayed several swords and shields.

"Looks heavy," Michael commented.

"Oh, you poor little weak boy. Don't worry, I'll help you." Maria patted him on the head.

He glared at her. "Let's just move it, okay?"

They moved over to the display case. "Wow, this *is* heavy."

"Told you so."

"Isabel? Can you give us some help?"

"Oh sure, sorry."

With Isabel's help, the Roswellians managed to move the display case next to the chairs.

"That's a lot taller than the coach." Michael pointed out. "The fort's going to be all lopsided."

"They always are," Maria reassured him. "I think the display case made this side ten feet long, but now we need to add something to the other side and we're out of tables and chairs. And display cases."

"What about the cushions?" Isabel asked. "We could pile them up and make a wall of sorts."

"I don't know," Maria said doubtfully. "They would probably fall down."

"I don't think we have much choice, Maria. The middle ages weren't really big in the furniture department." Michael gestured around the sparsely furnished room. "We do have a lot of cushions, though."

Maria shrugged. "I guess so. Why don't you guys do that? I'll start collecting rugs and tapestries and things for the fort."

Isabel and Michael began stacking pillows and soon had enough to complete the basic frame of the fort.

"Oh, good!" Maria exclaimed, as she pulled a tapestry from the wall. "Now all we have to do is put the blankets on!"

"Come on, Michael," Isabel said, taking up a rug. "Help me put this over the fort."

Michael followed Isabel's instructions. "Okay," he said. "So we just drape these blankets over the fort?"

"That's right."

Michael shook his head. "I'm sorry. I just don't see the fun in this."

Maria rolled her eyes as she brought more tapestries over to Michael and Isabel. "Michael, must you always be so cynical?"

"Maria, must you always be so cynical?"

Isabel shook her head. "Come on, you two, let's finish this fort." She grabbed a tapestry from Maria. "We don't have a lot of time left."

With all three contestants working together, the fort was swiftly completed. The friends stood back to survey their work.

"I'm sorry," Michael said, as he gazed at their lopsided, multicolored creation, "but I still don't see the wonder of forts."

"Michael, how can you say that?" Maria cried. "Go in the fort, you'll see. Oh, no, wait! Don't!" She grabbed his arm.

"What?" A confused Michael asked.

"Don't go in. What if you're the mole and you ruin the fort? Then all that hard work would be ruined!"

Michael groaned. "I am not going to ruin the fort."

"And that's exactly what the mole would say." Maria pointed out.

"I'm not the mole!" Michael protested.

"The mole would say that, too."

Before Michael could respond, Isabel broke in. "It doesn't matter anyway. Anderson's back." She pointed towards the door.

"I see you've finished the fort," Anderson said, smiling. "Now let's see if it passes the test." Anderson dropped to his hands and knees. "It's been a while since I've done this." He began to crawl through the fort.

"What do you think?" Maria called to him.

"Very nice," Anderson replied. "Nice and dark." He emerged from the other side. "Great job, guys. You earned that money. That brings the final pot to a total of $523,000. Congratulations."

Maria shrieked in celebration. "Yes!" She hugged Isabel and kissed Michael.

Anderson smiled at her. "Don't celebrate yet. Your final quiz will be tomorrow evening. I'll see you then." He turned and walked out of the room.

"Tomorrow." Maria bit her lower lip. "Doesn't it seem as we've been playing this game forever? And like we've just started yesterday?"

"As usual, that made no sense," Michael said, putting an arm around her.

Maria shoved him away. "You know what I mean!"

"I do, anyway," Isabel said. "But tomorrow it will all be over, for better or worse."

"We'll get to see everyone else, too," Maria said, brightening. "That will be fun."

"The quiz won't be," Michael said. "Remember, it goes back to the beginning of the game."

Isabel sighed. "I guess it's too late to worry about that. I think I'm going to go back to my room and take a nap."

Maria nodded. "Me, too. Stress makes me sleepy. Oh! Wait! Michael, you have to go through the fort."

Michael groaned. "Do I have to?"

"Yes." Isabel jumped in. "For the little child inside of you who never got one."

Michael sighed and shook his head, but did as the girls asked. He quickly crawled through the fort and came out on the other side. "Are you happy now?" he asked. "It's still nothing exciting. It's just furniture with a bunch of blankets over it."

Maria sighed. "At least you tried. Let's go."

The trio of contestants departed into their separate rooms, each unsuccessfully trying to sleep. The remainder of that day and the next were spent uneasily examining each other's actions and cautiously comparing notes. Before they knew it, the next evening had arrived and it was time for the final quiz. They gathered in a spacious back room of the hotel, where Anderson had already arrived.

"Are you ready?" Anderson asked. "This is the final quiz. It is composed of twenty questions, covering the entire span of the game. Once you are finished, remain in the room, until I come and get you."

"This is it," Maria announced, biting her lip. "Good luck, everyone."

The three friends walked down the hallway, departing into three separate rooms. The game had come to this final quiz, where all would be revealed and one of them would walk away with half-a-million dollars and one would be revealed as a traitor. Soon, everyone would know the answer to the question, "who is the mole?"

TBC…

Sorry to end it with a cliffhanger, but I have to keep you all interested. J Leave me a review and tell me what you think, please!