It's the next morning now, and Liz and I are in the Crashdown having breakfast. I'm having their famous pancakes with tobasco sauce on top and Liz is having waffles. I look over to the entrance and see a family of four walk in and sit down in a booth across from us. I've never seen the two kids before, but I feel a vague sense of familiarity with them.

"Liz, who are those two over there?" I ask, pointing to the boy and girl sitting with their parents.

"Them? Oh, that's Max and Isabel Evans. They're in my class." She tells me.

"They're twins?" I ask.

"Yeah, but they look nothing like each other. I don't get it."

"Do you know them?" I ask.

"No, not really. Isabel is kind of a snob and Max is really quiet. They don't really have any friends. That is, except for Michael Guerin." Liz informs me. "Why, do you know them?"

"Oh, uh no. Well… maybe I do. I don't know. I feel like I know them but I've never seen them before." I say, all mixed up.

"Well go up to them. Say hi and see if they know you." Liz says. I'm reluctant to the idea, but decide to go for it. What's to loose if I make a fool of myself? I get up and walk up to the family.

"Excuse me. Do I know you two?" I ask politely, looking at the twins. They looked at me, surprised. They excuse themselves from the table and we all walk to a corner of the restaurant. I ask them again. "Have we ever met before? I feel like I know you."

"You're her. You're the one we left behind." The boy, Max, tells me.

"What? What are you talking about?" I ask, completely confused by what he said. The girl looks at me with longing eyes.

"You're the fourth. Don't you remember when you first came out of the pod? We left you there and were found by some people from Roswell. Remember?" She tells me. I start to get flashbacks of when I first came out of my pod. 'I was all alone and so cold. I knew there were others, I just couldn't find them. They'd left me to find a home.' I phase back to reality.

"I remember. You guys left me. You left me to find homes for yourselves. Why didn't you wait for me?" I ask, hurt by what they did to me. They turned their eyes to the floor, embarrassed by what they had done.

"We didn't mean to leave you. We thought you'd come and find us." The girl says.

"And you did. You're here now, you found us. We're all together again." Max says. I look around for the other boy that was supposed to be with us.

"Where is he? Where's the other one?" I ask.

"He's at his house. He's a foster kid. Are you adopted?" Max asks me. I nod yes. "Well we better get back to the table before mom and dad start asking questions."

"Wait. When will I see you again?" I ask.

"Why don't you come over tonight and we can talk then." The girl answers. Then they turn to leave. I grab the girls arm quickly. "What's your name?" I want to know.

"It's Isabel. Bye." She smiles at me and then walks towards her parents. I'm filled with satisfaction and return to Liz.

"What was that all about?" Liz asks me curiously.

"Oh nothing. I knew them a while ago. We're getting together tonight." I answer and we go back to our conversation about how Liz thinks it's gross that I put tobasco sauce on everything.

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I press the doorbell and a woman answers the door.

"Hello. Can I help you?" She asks me.

"Hi. I'm Tess Madras, Max and Isabel's friend." I introduce myself.

"Oh, right. Come in. I'll tell the kids." She opens the door and leads me into the lobby. She yells upstairs for Max and Isabel to come down. They come running down the stairs.

"Hi Tess! Come on." Max takes my hand and leads me up the stairs and into his room. When I enter the room, I see a boy sitting on the floor. He must be the fourth. "Tess, this is Michael." Max introduces us. Michael gets up and walks towards me. We look at each other for a moment and then embrace each other in a warm, welcoming hug. I knew him right away when I first saw him. He's my brother. We all sit down in a circle.

"So when did you move to Roswell?" Isabel started.

"About a month ago. I was adopted back in Phoenix and then my family moved here." I respond.

"You have a family? What's it like?" Michael asks curiously.

"Well… let me think. At first I hated them. But that was because I was too proud to admit that I needed them. I have a younger brother and a younger sister. My brother's name is Kevin and my sister's name is Meghan. What about you two? Do you guys have any other siblings?" I look at Max and Isabel.

"No. Our parents aren't able to have children. That's why they adopted us." Isabel answers.

"And you? Where are you living?" I ask Michael. He puts his head down as if he's ashamed.

"I live in the trailer park just outside of Roswell with my foster mom and dad and foster sister." He answers quietly.

"I wonder if my parents could adopt you." I say out loud. Michael's head jerks in my direction.

"Why would they adopt ME?" He asks. I give him a 'Duh!' look.

"Because you're my brother, that's why. I'm going to tell my parents that you're my brother and then they'll adopt you." I answer. It's as simple as that. Max give me a doubtful look.

"Yeah, but what if they don't want to. They already have three kids. What makes you think that they'll agree to the adoption?" Max asks.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure they do. I'll just mind-warp them." I say.

"What's mind-warping?" Isabel asks.

"That's where I take over a person's mind and make them do things. I can put the idea of adopting Michael in my parent's minds and they'll do it. Don't you have that power?"

"No. But I can heal people. And Isabel can dream-walk people and Michael can destroy things. I guess we all have our own powers." Max says. I lean back against the bed and think about how I'll mind-warp Sandy and Charlie.

1 month later

"Okay, that's the end of it. Michael, you're ours now!" Sandy exclaims with joy. We've waited a month for this moment and now it's finally here. Michael is now my brother legally! Kevin's jumping ecstatically because he's so happy to have a big brother. Michael just stands still beside me, not showing much emotion. I know that inside, he's jumping for joy too. Sandy can tell that he's my brother, he's hard to open up. I tell her in my mind, 'Don't worry, he'll open up. He just needs time. Just like I did.'

We're at home now and I'm showing Michael his new room. He walks into his room with the same look I had on when I first arrived in this house. I give a smile when I see him sit on his bed with satisfaction. I've worked on his room for a while now, making everything perfect. All it needed was my brother. Now it's perfect. My brother is home.

That evening, after everyone is asleep, I sneak into Michael's room. He's lying there on his bed, eyes wide open. His head jerks towards me when I open the door. I can tell he's a bit scared. I walk over to him and sit down right next to him. He keeps his face strait and I do too.

"How are you?" I ask quietly.

"Okay. What's wrong?" Michael asks me, not really knowing why I'm in his room.

"Nothing. I just thought you'd want some company. Can I lie down with you?" I ask him. He nods and I can tell he's happy I'm here. He lifts up the covers and welcomes me underneath the blanket. I snuggle up close to him and smile, making his eyes glow with happiness. Though he doesn't show it, I know he's glad I'm here with him. We lie in the darkness, holding each other safely in our arms. It's one of those special moments that I'll never forget. It's a moment when I know I'm with my true family.

The next day

Right now it's recess and Michael and I are in a small corner of the playground. Michael wasn't too happy about changing schools but it's not like he really had a choice. Max and Isabel were sad to see him leave their class, but at least they still have each other. I'm just thankful I have my brother now. I don't always have to pretend to be such a human with those girls anymore. Michael and I are so alike in so many ways. The way we eat, we both pick at the food before we put it in our mouth. Everything has to be inspected, perfect. If something's not cooked the right way, we'll speak our mind. Our need for control is similar. We both always want to be the leader, but it doesn't work that way. That's why we often get in fights. Fighting. That's another one. We're both tough and don't give up. When we start beating on each other, there's no way the fight's going to end. Often someone else has to break us up. But we forgive each other easily. That's strange. We both had a rough start and were treated badly. Although it's incredibly hard to forgive those who've hurt us in the past, we both forgive each other and our family members remarkably easily. Our emotions. We're almost identical when it comes to emotions. We don't show emotions through facial expression very often. Maybe it was due to being hurt at such a young age. But people learn to see how we express our feelings.

Nobody said anything to Michael today. Not one boy welcomed him. I wish someone would tell him to be their friend. I feel weird having all these friends and he only has me. His face stayed solemn all morning as if he was sad about something. I ask him now why he was like that.

"I don't know. Maybe I just miss the old school." He shrugs it off. He doesn't want to talk but I keep asking.

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong? Normally I can tell, but this time I can't." I ask.

"Fine. I miss Max and Isabel. Okay. There you go. Now you know. Could you stop pestering me?" Michael pushes me away and puts down his head. I'm filled with dismay. It's okay that he misses Max and Isabel, but I'm his sister. Shouldn't he at least be happy he's here with me? I feel a tinge of jealousy. I look at him, but his eyes are looking at the grass. He's trying to ignore me as if he's mad or something. Why would he be mad? I helped him get out of his stupid foster home. I whip my head the other way, starting to get upset.

"Fine! If you don't want to be with me, then I'll go away!" I get up abruptly and stomp off towards my other friends who are at the swings. I don't look back but I know that he's looking at me with a surprised expression on his face. I've never acted this way around him before and I regret what I've done right away. But my pride takes over and I continue to march over to the swings.

"Hey Tess! You gonna play with us?" Ally asks me, happy that I've joined her.

"Yeah. Whatcha doin?" I respond, trying to sound happy.

"Just swinging. Come on. Here's a swing right next to mine." Ally invites me to swing with her. I hop on the swing and start pedaling. As I get higher, I can see into the far corner where Michael is sitting. He seems so alone, so isolated. No. Don't think about him. He's not even thankful that you helped him out of that foster system. All he wants is his precious Max and Isabel. Well if he wants them, he can have them. "Hey Tess! Let's double date!" Ally interrupts my thinking. I smile at her and start pedaling so that we double date. Soon my thoughts of Michael are in the back of my mind and I'm having great fun with Ally.

Michael's POV

I thought adopted life would be so great. To have a mother and father to call your own, that's supposed to be the best thing in the world. But it's not. At least not for me. The first night I spent in this house, I was scared to death. I was really surprised by how scared I really was, because I've been to so many different foster homes. Why would this one be any different? But it is different. Because it's permanent. I'm never leaving this place. Once they signed the papers, I was now considered 'theirs'. I just hate the feeling of being tossed around like a toy. It's as if I'm a piece of property that can be given over to a pair of parents and all of a sudden belongs to them. Tess told me that's how she felt too. Tess. My sister. It still feels weird to say she's my sister. The only sister I've ever knows is Isabel. Tess is nothing like Isabel. She's strong and durable. She beats up on Kevin all the time. She tries to get me to horse around, but I'm afraid that I'll hurt her. She doesn't know my strength, what I'm capable of. Isabel is so perfect, such a……girl. Tess is a tomboy. I think she's teaching Meghan things already that a girl shouldn't do. Even Kevin has learned a thing or two from her. Especially when it comes to fighting. I'm always so surprised by how much Tess knows about fighting. There's something in her, that alien side of her that loves to kick butt. Sometimes I find my self-backing off from her, fearing she'll go too far and hurt me. Maybe I fear her. I don't know. But that first night I spent in this house, now that was something else. She made me feel so safe. Just the thought of her lying next to me made me feel like nothing could hurt me. It's strange, I know. It should be the other way around, me protecting her. That's why I got mad at her. Because she's always trying to protect me, shield me from everything. I've grown up taking care of my self. I don't need a protector. I started ignoring her and finally I blew up in her face. She walked off towards her own friends, leaving me alone in the schoolyard. It's been 3 days and we haven't talked since. I talked to Max last night and he told me to stop acting like such a wuss. "Just let her do her own thing. Let her feel like she's taking care of you. Maybe that's just her instinct. Maybe, where we come from, she's your older sister or something." Max told me. I got mad at him for saying that. I'm not a wuss. Isabel said "Just be a good brother. She needs you and you need her. Just look at me and Max." I think my pride was talking because I got mad at her too. So now I have no friends. I'm all alone in this world.

Okay, I can do this. Just go up to her and say you're sorry. She'll forgive and we'll be best friends again. That's all that's to it. You can do it Michael, you can do it. Oh no, there she is. She's sitting on her bed, looking like she's trying to be busy or something. I walk into her room and close the door behind me. She looks up at me and then frowns when she sees it's me.

"What are you doing in here?" She asks me, as if I'm some kind of alien. Heh. Good one Guerin. I chuckle to myself.

"I…I just wanted to talk to you." I sit down next to her on her bed. "I'm sorry for acting the way I did. Will you forgive me?" I'm sincere in my apology. She looks at me with an estranged look on her face and then a tear rolls down her eye. Her eyes are swelling up and the skin on her face is turning blotchy. "Tess, is something wrong?" I ask, not knowing what's wrong with her. She shudders as she tries keeping her sobs inside. I put my arm around her and say I'm sorry again.

"I'm sorry too. I'm sorry for taking you away from Max and Isabel. But I just don't know what to do without you." Tess shook as she spoke.

"Don't be sorry. You're the one who took me out of that horrible foster home and put me in this awesome house. I may not love it here yet, but I just need time. You said you needed time when you first came too. I miss Max and Isabel, but it's not like they're gone forever. They're just a little further away. We can still go see them lots. Shhhh. It's okay Tess." I coo my sister, trying to calm her down. I've never seen her like this, so vulnerable. And it scares me.

I asked Sandy if Tess and I could go to Max and Isabel's house after supper and she said yes. Thank God. It's been a week since we've both seen them but it's felt like years. I've never spent longer than a weekend without seeing them. It's after supper now and Tess and I are waiting in the car. Sandy's late as usual. Finally she comes rushing outside and plops herself down in the drivers seat.

"Okay, you guys ready?" She asks us, panting for air.

"Yup. Let's go." Tess responds energetically. She's excited to see Isabel again. The van starts and we slowly back out of the driveway. The drive takes 10 minutes and soon we pull into another driveway. I can see Max looking out the window with his usual solemn face. Tess sees him and starts waving frantically. A smile breaks across his face. Once the van comes to a complete halt, we both take off our seatbelts and get out quickly. Isabel has already opened the door and is running towards us. I hold out my arms and she welcomes them with all her heart. We embrace each other with a warm hug. I'm beaming with delight. Max walks out calmly, trying not to look like he's overjoyed. Tess sees him and run towards him just like Isabel. The smile on his face only gets bigger and they squeeze each other. I can see Tess' feet lift off the ground as Max practically picks her up while hugging her. That's a happiness I've rarely seen in him.