Part 60

The shapeshifter was brought to the presence chamber. It was the first time Kate had seen the being, who was Grant Sorenson on Earth, conscious in this reality. He had a collar around his neck, but, other than a guard behind him, he was unfettered.

They were all there. Jack and Tess were seated at the table, Michael standing behind Tess's chair. Kate had chosen a couch behind where Will stood at the head of the table, so that she could watch the shapeshifter's face while he was interrogated. He was still wearing Will's (or, rather, Khivar's) face, and Kate felt Isabel flinch beside her. She glanced at her friend, and could see from the expression on the other girl's face that she wasn't quite as comfortable with this scenario as she had told Will she would be.

"Why does he still look like that?" Isabel asked Kate in an undertone. "Can't we make him shift?"

"I thought you were okay with this," Kate whispered back.

"I thought I was," Isabel replied. "I guess I just didn't expect him to still look like Khivar." She swallowed visibly. "I didn't like how I felt with him. I don't like being out of control like that. Why hasn't he changed?"

Kate reached out and patted Isabel's hand, which sat between them. "He can't touch you." She paused, then added, "And you know he won't hurt you. He loves you."

"That doesn't make me feel any better," Isabel whispered.

Kate shot her a sympathetic look, but returned her attention to the shapeshifter. After all, Isabel had chosen to be in the room. They all had. No one wanted to miss anything that this enemy might reveal.

The shapeshifter - Kate would think of him as Grant from now on because it was just easiest - reached up and touched the collar around his neck. He was looking at Isabel, but he addressed Will. "Can you take this off me? I think that I should shift. The princess seems uncomfortable."

"No," Will replied firmly. He glanced at Isabel too. "I'm sorry, but that collar is there for a reason. He can't be trusted with it off. It keeps him from shapeshifting."

"It doesn't seem very smart for him to look like you," Michael commented. "What if he gets free or something? It could really mess things up."

"I'm not going anywhere," Grant interjected. "You have brought me here for a reason, and I'm going to honour that." He was no longer looking at Isabel. "It's the least I can do."

"Very well," Will sighed. He nodded at the guard standing behind Grant, who touched his belt. The collar stopped glowing.

Grant immediately raised his hand. It burned brightly for a moment, making Kate look away. When she looked back, the shapeshifter had taken on another alien form. She wondered if Isabel was seeing him as Grant Sorenson, or had he taken a new face in his human form?

She glanced at Isabel, whose lips were now pressed together. "Thank you," she said curtly.

"Why am I here?" Grant asked, after several tense moments of silence.

"Because you impersonated me," Will snapped. "You dallied with Princess Vilandra's heart. You are going to be punished for it."

The shapeshifter frowned. "That's not what I meant," he said. "I want to know why you've brought me into the granolith. What's going on in here?"

Kate blinked in surprise. "Wait a minute," she said, before she thought better of it. "How do you know about the granolith?"

Grant looked at her, seemingly surprised. "Everything. As far as I know we're in it," he replied. "None of you came back out. I'm not in the pod chamber anymore, so obviously I'm in it with you." He glanced around, expressionless. "Oddly, on a star-ship," he added. "Again, what is going on in here?"

Kate looked at Will, who seemed just as surprised as Grant. "I don't get it," he finally admitted. "You've already been to Earth?"

"Of course," Grant replied. "Haven't you?" He abruptly looked wary.

"Well, we assumed that in this world, no," Michael said, sounding annoyed. "Although we all remember who we are on Earth." He rolled his eyes. "Okay, what the hell? Is any of this ever going to make sense? What the hell are we all doing here anyway?"

There was another long silence, then Grant asked, "Don't you all know yet?"

"Don't you?" Tess demanded.

"I don't know anything," Grant admitted. "It was Serena who wanted you all in here."

"Why are you here though?" Isabel asked quietly.

Grant shrugged. "I'm assuming because you needed me."

"I don't get it," Michael admitted. Kate reflected that she was in complete agreement with him. She didn't understand any of this.

"Okay, we need to figure this out," Isabel said. "If we're not here to change things, and if Grant got pulled in here for some reason, why are we here?"

"I think the main question is, where is here anyway?" Jack spoke up for the first time, sounding aggravated. He looked at Kate. "Katie, I think it's time for you to tell what you think you know."

Everyone turned to look at her. Kate sighed. "I might be wrong," she protested.

"Who cares?" Michael exclaimed. "Any theory is better than nothing at this point."

"Okay," Kate conceded. She paused, glancing at Will, then explained, "I think we're here to learn things about ourselves. And until we accept them, we can't go back."

"I thought we already did that," Michael said. "When we brought you back."

"Maybe," Kate said. "But I guess there was more."

"Well, I know all I need to know," Michael stated. "I hate it here. The end."

"See, I think that's part of it," Kate elaborated, smiling in spite of herself. Michael's reactions were always so extreme. It was a characteristic about him she was beginning to enjoy. "I think we all need to figure out where we belong." She paused, then decided just to say it all. It was going to come out anyway. "I think there's a reason that some of us are seeing everyone as humans, and some of us aren't. I think that the granolith is helping us to understand where we belong."

"Is that all this is?" Isabel asked, sounding frustrated. She waved her hand in the air. "Some elaborate dream?"

"I don't know," Kate replied. "I really don't. But I think we're being allowed to experience what it will be like back home. If we go, I mean. So that we know."

"But why is he here?" Tess asked, nodding towards Grant. "Shouldn't he know?"

"Maybe the granolith is just playing along with us?" Jack suggested. "When we thought that we were reliving things, we did some things differently. We were trying to fix things." He looked at Michael. "When you went to interfere with the shapeshifter seducing Vilandra, you changed things. You brought him into the story at a point the granolith wasn't expecting, so it had to go get him."

"That actually makes sense," Isabel said. "When I was living as Vilandra, I knew how I felt about who I thought was Khivar, but I never actually saw him here."

"I still don't get it," Tess admitted.

"I think what Jack is trying to say is that Grant's essence isn't in here. So the granolith had to go get him when we needed him to play a role in what we were doing."

"So he isn't on Earth anymore?" Tess asked.

"Who knows?" Grant said. "I guess we won't know anything until we get out of here."

"What I don't get is why we're still here," Michael interjected. "Whether we've admitted it or not, I think we all know where we belong. I belong on Earth with Maria." He looked around challengingly. "What about the rest of you? Maybe if we just say it, the damn thing will let us go home."

Silence greeted this pronouncement. Kate could sense the reluctance of anyone to make any commitment one way or the other. Their confusion was only becoming more pronounced by the second.

"Well?" Michael urged.

"I don't think it's a good idea for any of us to discuss this without Max and Liz," Tess finally said, when the quiet became increasingly uncomfortable.

"I agree," Isabel said quietly. Kate realized that she was looking at her. She shifted slightly, wondering what the other girl was thinking.

Michael sighed in frustration, but he didn't argue. "How much longer?" he demanded, looking at Will.

"We should be there within the hour," Will replied.

"Fine," Michael growled. He looked at Grant suspiciously, "So, what? Are we putting him back in the cell?"

"I don't know what purpose it would serve," Will said. "Like he said, he's not going anywhere. He's here for us at this point."

"It would serve the purpose of making me happy," Michael muttered. "I don't trust him."

"I don't blame you, Michael," Grant said calmly. "But I have nowhere to go, and I would like to learn where this is leading. I am just as in the dark as you all."

Kate narrowed her eyes. She wasn't sure why, but she realized that she didn't believe him. She suspected that the shapeshifter knew a whole lot more about this than he was letting on. She didn't have time to think about it thought, because she felt a hand on her arm.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Kate looked at Isabel, surprised.

"Sure," she said. She waited expectantly.

"Alone," Isabel added, nodding towards the door.

"Okay."

Moments later, they were standing in the corridor. Kate could feel her heart pounding. She realized that she was nervous, mainly because she suspected that she knew what Isabel wanted to talk about.

She was proven right when the other girl spoke, "I need to know, Kate. Are you seeing aliens or humans?"

Kate lowered her eyes. The moment of truth was upon her. The irony was that it was her own fault that Isabel wanted to know. She was the one who had tried to explain what it meant after all. She was possibly wrong, but if she was right, there was no use in denying it.

"Aliens," she admitted softly.

"What about Alex?" Isabel demanded.

Kate looked up. "I don't know," she admitted.

"That's not good enough," Isabel replied firmly. "He can't be hurt again, Kate. He just can't. It's not fair to him!"

Kate scowled. She was beginning to get annoyed. She understood where Isabel was coming from. She was worried about Alex, too. But Isabel was certainly in no position to judge Kate regarding hurting him. She was the one who had started this whole fiasco in the first place by not realizing how she really felt about him until he had moved on.

If Isabel had not been so self-absorbed, Kate never would have had a chance with Alex. None of this would have ever happened. She wouldn't feel this way, and she wouldn't know that she was going to hurt him.

Even worse, she wouldn't know absolutely that she was going to miss him so much she might not recover.

"I don't want to hurt him," Kate managed to say. Her voice sounded slightly strangled. "That's the last thing I want. But some things just aren't meant to be."

"But they can be," Isabel argued. "If you really wanted him, you could have him. You don't have to go back."

Kate stared at her. "But then you can't have him, Isabel."

Isabel's large alien eyes filled with tears. "He doesn't want me anymore, anyway. I just want him to be happy. He should be happy. I can't bear for him to be hurt again. I just can't. He just doesn't deserve it. It's not fair."

"No, it's not," Kate agreed. Her anger had drained away. There was no point to it after all. They were in agreement. It was completely unacceptable that Alex was going to again be caught in the alien crossfire.

But, with every passing moment, Kate knew with more certainty that it was going to be unavoidable.

"Maybe it will all work out," Isabel suggested, sounding hopeless. "Somehow. It just has to work out. All you have to do is choose him, Kate."

"I have chosen him," Kate explained patiently. "That's not the problem. The problem is that I don't think he's really chosen me. Even if he thinks he has, I have a feeling that I'm never going to really believe it. Not after all the time I've spent with you. Now that I know you."

"What do I have to do with it?" Isabel asked. "That makes no sense."

"Isabel, please," Kate pleaded. "It's you he wants. He's denying it to himself now, because he doesn't want to be rejected again, but if he could have had you before, he never would have even looked twice at me."

"That's not true," Isabel argued. "It's not true at all."

"It is true," Kate replied quietly. "And we both know it. And it's what the granolith is telling me by making me know that I am an alien. I don't belong on Earth."

"I'm an alien too," Isabel said.

"No, Isabel, you're not," Kate answered. "Not really. You were raised human. It's the identity you've chosen for yourself. If it wasn't, you'd be seeing aliens here too."

"Don't you think you should both let Alex decide what's best for him?"

Both girls turned their heads in surprise. Michael was standing in the doorway, his arms crossed. He had obviously been there for a while. The exchange between Isabel and Kate had been so intent, they hadn't even noticed him.

"Michael! This is a private conversation," Isabel flared.

"Whatever," Michael replied. "My point is still valid. The guy deserves a say. We don't even know what any of this means," he added. He looked right at Kate. "You might end up staying on Earth, no matter what you think we're doing here. And then what?"

"I don't know," Kate admitted.

"None of us know anything," Michael reminded them. "So what's the point of even talking about it? Let it go for now. Alex will still be there when we're done here." He paused, then said, "I'm starving."

And, with that, he walked away.

Kate stared after him in consternation. What if he was right? What if she was throwing away the possibility of a future with Alex, just because she suspected that she wasn't going to be on Earth for long after they were done here? What if that wasn't true? Could she just step aside and watch Alex and Isabel reunite? Because if they did stay on Earth, she didn't doubt that she and Jack and Will would stay close to the Roswellians. After all, at this point, what choice did they have?

This was turning into a huge mess.

"I know you're scared."

Kate looked at Isabel, who was watching her, not Michael.

"I was scared, and I lost him," Isabel continued quietly. "Don't give him up unless you're really sure, Kate. Because you'll regret it."

Isabel turned and went back into the presence chamber, leaving Kate to stare after her.