Disclaimer: As usual I don't own anything. Though I do wish I owned Jason Behr. yay.

A/N Sorry this took so long to get. School stuff and it just didn't want to be written. I

apologize ahead of time for the soap opera-iness that makes up this chapter as well as the

shortness of this chapter. I had to get all of the OH MY GOD's out of the way. And I

promise very soon we'll be getting back to our beloved aliens and their couples.

Chapter Five- Conduiser (to drive)

For the first five minutes o fthe drive, Liz and Jeff sat in without speaking. Finally

Jeff broke the thickening silence.

"Lizzi, sweetie, are you all right? You've been really quiet."

"Of course I'm all right! Why wouldn't I be?!? I just found out that my father is

an alien, that I'm some half-alien hybrid and that not only am I supposed to protect this

royal family but somehow I'm supposed to save some planet that I don't even remember

from an evil tyrant. It all sounds like a stupid sci-fi movie. So yeah, I'm just peachy." Jeff

simply drove on, not reponding, trying to keep a balnk expression permanently fixed on

his face, but Lix could see small signes of sadness in his eyes. Liz sat quietly for a few

minutes, trying to collect herself. She look up at Jeff timidly.

"Are you my father?"

Jeff turned his head, looking at Liz and then turned his gaze back to the road.

They drove forward a few yards and pulled off the road before Jeff finally answered Liz's

question.

"No... no I'm not. My brother was. I never had time for a family, at least that's

what I thought. No duty, loyalty, my job came first. I was the king's second in command,

Zan's father. I was a good soldier, but I failed in the end. Your father... Your father was

one of the previous Guardians. It's been tradition in our family that the first born becomes

the king's second in command, and the second born becomes a Guardian. Of course the

Granolith chooses its own Guardians, but, it really seems to like our family, maybe

something in our genes...?" before Jeff got lost in thought he mentally shook himself. He

needed to get to the important points. "But when the second born were twins, we didn't

know what was going to happen. We expected the Granolith to choose your brother since

he was the first of you two to be born, but the Granolith chose both of you."

Liz sat in silence for a few moments. "So who is it. Is it Alex of Kyle?" Please not

Kyle, that would justbe too weird, please not Kyle, please not Kyle, please not Kyle! Liz

chanted silently to herself.

Jeff chuckeled to himself, seeing the conflict in her eyes. "Don't worry, it's Alex."

"whoo.." Liz sighed. " Wait. Don't worry? You can read minds???" Liz's eyes

grew large in horror of the numerous thoughts about Max that her father might have

heard.

"No! I raised you. I usually know what's going on in your head."

Liz breathed antoher sigh of relief. "Thanks Dad." Jeff smiled when she said the

word "dad." They sat in silence for the remainder of the car ride. When they finally

reached the Crashdown, Liz brought up the question that had been floating around in her

mind.

"Do you know who the Royal Four are?" Jeff gave her a small smile.

"Ketchup over the blood really was a good idea. Zan was alway a clever one.

What Max did for you was foolhardy, but understandable. I have a feeling he recognized

you on some level." Liz smiled at her dad.

She climbed out of the car aw she thought about the information she had gained in

the last half hour. What was she going to tell Alex? She went over the twin idea and the

whole second born thing and something cliked.

OH MY GOD! The exclamation blared through her mind.

Maria, who had already started her shift, came rushing out of the cafe.

"What is it chica? What's wrong?" Maria asked her friend hurriedly. Liz took no

notice that Maria had heard her exclamation even though she hadn't actually said it out

loud.

"You're never going to believe this!" Liz grabbed Maria's hands as she excitedly

explained to her friend what she had just learned. Jeff smiled as he got out of the car and

went over to the front of the cafe to try to calm the girls down.

Michael, also on his shift at the grill, had followed Maria to the front of the care

when she had rusehed out. He watched the scene play out. suspicion shining in his eyes.

"Now what's going on with them?" he asked himself.