Disclaimer: Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. I'm simply borrowing them until the Season 2 DVD's get released.

Tomorrow's Yet to Come

Chapter Forty-Nine – It's Party Time

Ava opened the door to the secret tunnel room and was greeted by a round of applause.

"All hail the conquering scientists," shouted Max. "Let's give them a big round of applause for discovering penicillin!"

"Shut up, jerk," Ava said good-naturedly. "Besides, it wasn't me, it was your wife. I just went along for the ride!"

"That was quite the show for you today," said Michael. "What happened after? We were starting to get worried."

"We went down to the Director's office," said Liz, who by now, had squeezed into the chair that Max was sitting in, "And we heard again about what a great and wonderful thing we did. And then, Maria and Ava went into action. Oh my God, they were too funny!"

"I'm afraid to ask," said Michael, with a groan. "Kyle, you do it."

"Do I have to?" said Kyle. "Maybe the road to enlightenment lies in the not knowing."

"Fine, don't ask," said Maria. "Then you'll never, ever now what happened."

"I'm not a coward," said Alex. "I've survived too many Maria plans to ever show fear again. I'll ask. What happened next, Maria?"

"Well the evil bitch teacher from hell, Jara Kobodi was there, and I went into major suck up mode."

"It was pretty disgusting actually," said Liz, chiming in. "But then Ava got into the act after some prompting from Maria."

"Which is when I liberated her communicator," Ava said, proudly.

"Liberated?" Kyle asked, weakly.

"She lifted it," said Zan. "The question that remains is why?"

"Maria mentioned that she wanted it," Ava said, simply.

"Well that makes all the sense in the world," said Max.

"Of course it does, Max," said Isabel. "Maria has a plan that involves a communicator. Men," she added, turning to the other girls, "Just never seem to get it."

"Isabel's right," said Maria. "I have a plan, and Alex, I need your help with it."

"Um, remember when I said I survived too many Maria plans to ever show fear again?" asked Alex. "Well, I lied."

"Come on, Alex, it's a piece of cake," Maria wheedled. "All I need you to do is make a bunch more of these, and can you upload my song to them, and make it so the ones you make talk to each other, so if I tell one to play, they'll all play."

"Oh sure," said Alex, "A real piece of cake. Yeah, I can probably do it, but it's not going to be a right away thing, that's for sure."

"No problem," Maria said, her voice gleeful. "You can have a week."

"So, has Che'koth been here yet?" Liz asked, trying to change the subject before Alex killed Maria with his bare hands.

"He was, but it was before any of us got here," said Zan. He left a message saying to wait for him. He'd be back with some important news at some point tonight."

"Liz," Ava whispered. "Are you going to tell Max what the Director said?"

"No," Liz whispered back. "He's got enough to worry about. I want to talk to Che'koth about it first, and get his take on it before I do anything else."

"What are you two whispering about?" Max asked, tugging playfully on Liz's hair.

"Well, it's like this, see," said Liz, stalling for time while she came up with an answer. "I was, um, wondering if we had any popcorn in that stash of food. I was thinking we were in serious need of a popcorn party."

"The woman wants a popcorn party," said Max, standing up, cradling Liz in his arms. "The woman shall have a popcorn party!" He placed Liz back in the chair and went over to the storage container where they kept the food Che'koth had brought back from Earth for them. He rummaged around and held up a box of microwave popcorn.

"Your in luck!" he said. "We have plenty."

"Don't we need a microwave for that?" Maria asked.

"We have sorely neglected your education," said Isabel, grabbing the box from Max's hand. She opened it up, and removed one of the packages and laid it on the table. She held her hand over it, and within seconds, the sound of popping filled the room.

"That smells so good," said Liz, across the room. "What other goodies do we have?" She jumped up and ran to the storage container and pulled out cans of soda, several bags of chips, and some salsa.

"Oh goodie," she exclaimed, like a child. "We get to have a party."

Within minutes, all of the teens were munching on food, laughing and talking. Maria grabbed a cd, and soon the sound of music filled the room as well.

"Oh no, the Kit-Shickers cd!" moaned Kyle. "Make it go away, please!"

"They're not too bad," said Maria. "Not great, but not horrible. Not by a long shot."

"Hey, look at this," said Alex, reading the liner notes. "Dedicated to my one and only Amy. Awe, isn't that sweet."

"Shut up, Alex!" Kyle and Maria said, simultaneously while the rest of the room laughed.

Che'koth stood in the tunnel, hidden from view, listening to the sounds of laughter that filled the room. It pleased him to hear the sounds of his children laughing and enjoying themselves so much. There had not been enough of that in their lives, nor in their previous lives.

He moved forward several steps so that he could see into the room, but still remain hidden from view in the shadows. He watched Max pull Liz down into his lap, causing her bag of popcorn to fly out of her hands and land on the floor. She laughed and swatted his arm, playfully. His son had indeed chosen well.

Across the room, Isabel laughed at something Alex said, and the sound of his laughter filled his heart with joy. She looked so much like her mother that it took his breath away. Che'koth moved back further into the shadows, wanting to delay the conversation that he knew would cause his precious daughter so much pain.

Maria danced across the room, momentarily blocking his view of Isabel, and he smiled as he watched the carefree sprite. She was so alive, so impetuous, she was perfect for his very stoic, yet hot headed nephew. He smiled to himself as he remembered Rath as a child, so willing to throw himself into any cause. It saddened him, however to realize that Michael would never be as carefree as his fun loving nephew Rath. Rath had grown up surrounded by the love that Michael had been denied, and it colored his disposition very much.

Ava waved a bag of chips in front of Kyle, pulling them out of reach every time he grabbed at them. Finally, he gave in and pulled Ava into his lap. Che'koth laughed silently, enjoying the playful nature of his niece. She resembled his late sister so much! And Zan; his other son. How ironic that both pods should reach their full gestation period. And contrary to their earlier beliefs, the scientists ruled by Kivar were not able to taint either embryo of his son. He was so much like Max, and yet so different. It boggled the mind to see that the way a child was raised would have so much influence on them.

He watched, a few minutes longer, unwilling to end the happy and relaxing time the young people were enjoying themselves. How he wished he could reveal his true identity to them. He longed to hear his children call him Father again. But it was so much safer for all of them this way. Finally, he knew he could delay no longer, and he stepped out of the shadows and into the small room.

"Che'koth!" Max called over the music. "Popcorn?"

"No thank you, Majesty," Che'koth answered with a slight grin. "I think not."

"Do you have some news for us?" Max asked, noting the worried expression that Che'koth's grin didn't cover.

"I'm afraid that I do," he answered.

"Why don't you ever show up with happy news?" asked Kyle. He reached over and tapped Maria on the shoulder and grabbed the Kit-Shickers cd out of her hand. "Party time's over. We're back to saving the world."

"Well, I do have some good news," said Che'koth. "It's just that the bad news outweighs the good news.

"Like there's a surprise," said Alex.

"Well, the girl who is trying to make trouble for Liz has a father that works closely with Kivar," said Che'koth.

"I'm guessing that's the bad news," said Max.

"Actually, no, that's the good news," said Che'koth. "He's loyal to King Zan, and he won't do anything with the information his daughter is sure to bring him."

Liz smiled in relief. Now she wouldn't have to worry Max at all.

"I was also able to track down the man with the jewelry cart," said Che'koth, and make complete restitution to him.

"Look, Che'koth," said Ava. "That was all my fault, I'll find a way to pay you back, somehow. I promise."

Che'koth closed his eyes as an image of his small niece giving away all her belongings to those less fortunate flashed through his mind.

"There is no need," he said, quietly. "We also have some of our scientist working on modifying more of the Trideka as well," he added.

"Yeah, not wanting to sound stupid or anything," said Kyle. "But why didn't you guys ever do that on your own. I mean, no offense to Liz and Alex, but if they could do it, why couldn't you guys?"

"Simple, we didn't have a sample of platinum to use. The only way for us to get back to Earth was to use the Granolith, and only you could activate it. And after you activated it, there was so much going on with all of you, I never really thought about asking you for a sample of platinum to bring back here."

"Okay," said Michael. "We've had good news, and more good news. This leads me to believe the bad news is going to be big."

"I'm afraid it is," said Che'koth. "I found out about the Vilondra that Kivar has in the castle."

"I'm not going to like this very much, am I?" Isabel asked faintly.

Alex slipped his arm around her, and held her tightly, while Maria, Liz and Ava closed ranks around her as if to shield her from Che'koth's news. Che'koth nodded imperceptibly, pleased to see the way Alex instinctively thought to protect his wife.

"No, Princess, I'm afraid you will not. It seems as though Kivar was able to steal some of the genetic material used to create you. He has had a team of scientists working feverishly to create another Vilondra. He finally succeeded, but only to a point. His clone has some serious defects, including the inability to speak, and to think for herself. At this point, he has been successful at passing her off as just being quiet and shy since her family died, but people are beginning to question that."

"But," said Zan.

"But, he is very close to creating another Vilondra, and if all goes well, this one will be able to speak. I'm not to sure if he's going to want her to have independent thoughts," said Che'koth. "Both you, and the original Vilondra are very independent people."

"You were right, I didn't like that news very much," said Isabel. "I don't know if I can kill someone that looks exactly like me."

"I can," said Alex, grimly. "I did it before, and I'll do it again. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.