Disclaimer: You know the drill…the characters aren't mine. A lot of stuff in the beginning is taken from End of the World. God knows THAT'S not mine. Anything that makes sense and makes it all better, now that's mine. Seriously, Roswell and all characters belong to Jason Katims, 20th Century Fox etc. I'm just borrowing them.

Rating: PG-13 – possibly to R

Love Changes Everything

Chapter Fifty-Nine Take it to the Limit

Michael turned the bike around and followed Maria down the highway. He watched in amazement as the faded red paint changed to a sharp metallic blue. He accelerated the motorcycle and pulled up along side Maria. He looked in the window, to tell her to move over, but was silenced as he watched her shorten her blond locks and change their color to black. Finally he lifted the visor on his helmet and motioned for her to pull over.

"Maria, are you okay?" he shouted, over the bike engine. He killed the motor and jumped off and ran over to her car. "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Wait, slow up Space Boy," Maria said through the open window of her car. "I'm fine, and no they didn't hurt me. I tried to contact Che'koth, and I was just getting ready to leave when Larry, Moe and Curly showed up. I hid behind the pod chambers until they left."

"Are you sure they didn't hurt you?" Michael demanded.

"Yes, I'm sure, now will you shut up and listen to me. Tess is up to something."

"That is not news, Maria. We know she's up to something."

"No, more than that. To start with, there is no Special Unit, and there was no Agent Pierce. That was all a creation of Nescedo and Tess."

"What? You mean the hell they put us through last year wasn't real? Well, why didn't we remember that it was fake the way we remembered that the whole message from Max's mother was fake."

"Do I look like the alien version of the Shell Answer Man, Michael? I already had questions, which is why I was at the pod chamber. Not only did I not get any answers, I got more questions. Apparently, Tess's plan was to take Max and those other two sub defectives and go back to Antar. Now she's decided that she doesn't need Max, she has something better. I just can't figure out what it is."

"What did you go out to the pod chamber for?" asked Michael.

"I told you, I had some questions, and I wanted to see if Che'koth could answer them. But apparently, he isn't home, and he forgot to turn on the alien answering machine, so I couldn't leave a message."

"Maybe if we go back and try together," said Michael.

"No, I was going to follow Tess and see if I could get a handle on what she's planning," said Maria.

"Yeah, that's the impression I got when you did the presto chango paint job on the car," laughed Michael. "And the hair – good look for you."

"Shut up, Michael," fumed Maria. "It was all I could think of."

"It was good, Maria. I was just trying to be funny. What did you want to ask Che'koth about?" Michael asked.

"We're falling apart. Liz is losing her mind, and you and I, all we do is fight," said Maria, her eyes filling with tears.

Michael gathered her into his arms and held her tightly. "Maria, all we ever do is fight. There's nothing abnormal about that."

"It's not our regular fighting, Michael, and it scares me."

"Look, if it means that much to you, I'll go to the stupid prom, but I really think to make it look good, we need to keep arguing about it. Nobody is going to believe that I changed my mind."

"Thank you, Michael," Maria said softly. "It really is important to me."

"I know. I'm sorry I was such a jerk about it. I've just felt completely weird since we got back from Vegas. It's like there is an invisible steel band wrapped around my head, pressing all the time," he explained.

"That's how I've been feeling," Maria said, slowly. "Kind of like you are under all this pressure, and nothing you do is going to help you?"

"Yeah, exactly," said Michael. "And I swear, Max is going through the same thing, even if he won't admit it. I tried to tell him about Liz falling apart, and he freaked. Kept screaming at me to leave Liz alone, saying he was her husband, and she didn't need any help from me. It was strange."

"Yeah, and Liz was like a total freakazoid today," said Maria. "I don't know if it's alien mood swings or what, but she is just too hard to deal with."

Michael laced his fingers through Maria's and kissed her deeply. "We'll figure it out," he said. "Maybe we all just need a vacation or something."

"We just had a vacation," said Maria, twisting the platinum ring that Michael always wore. "Vegas, remember? Michael," she said, suddenly changing gears. "When did you get a new ring?"

"I didn't," said Michael. "This is the same ring as always. Platinum, blocks against mind warps, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember, but this isn't that ring."

"What are you talking about?" asked Michael. "I never take it off, so how can it not be the same ring."

"You never take it off?" asked Maria. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure, Maria. Do I look stupid or," his voice trailed off. "Right after we got back from Vegas, Max and I did a ring job on the jeep. I never wear my ring when I work on engines. It's dangerous. Max had his off too, and so did Kyle. We were working on the jeep at his house."

"And Tess just swept in and copied them, and substituted them with non-platinum bands," continued Maria. "I wonder if she did the same thing to Isabelle, Liz and me?"

"It wouldn't surprise me," said Michael. "But how did she figure it out? Come to think of it," he continued. "How did you figure it out? It looks like the exact same ring to me."

"Yours had a small nick on one edge," said Maria. "I always feel it when I play with your ring. I didn't feel it this time."

Michael just stared at her and shook his head in amazement. "Did anyone ever tell you that you are incredible?"