Finding the Answers

Liz sat on the bed writing in her journal. She started a new one after she sent her old one to her father. She continued writing even though she could feel someone's eyes looking at her. She finished her thought, closed her book, and looked up.

"Isabel," Liz was taken back. She'd figured it was Max standing in the doorway. "Why didn't you say something?"

"You looked deep in thought," Isabel sat on the bed. "Look, if there's anyone who can talk my brother out of this, it's you."

"He's made his decision," Liz placed her journal on the nightstand, "and I'm going to support it."

"I'm all for standing by your man here Liz but this is crazy." Isabel retorted. "It's Tess."

"I know," Liz looked at her solemnly. "But what if Zan is in trouble, can we just sit back and let it happen? Can we leave it up to her?"

"But Liz …" Isabel let out an exasperated breath.

"We help people and now it's Zan who needs help." Liz was trying her best to accept the situation.

"Says Tess," Isabel scoffed. "I can't believe your okay with this."

"I'm anything but okay Isabel," Liz replied. "She mind warped Kyle, killed Alex and betrayed us all. Believe me, I know who she is."

"And what if it's one of her tricks?" Isabel questioned.

"Then its better if Max doesn't go alone," Liz paused briefly. "We'll be there to make her pay."

"If this is another one of her plots," Isabel's face grew serious. "I'll kill her myself this time."

"I keep thinking the same thing," Liz held up her hands, electricity coursing through them. "Every time I think about what she did and the fact she's alive… it happens again."

"I thought I was pissed," Isabel half smiled. "Well if we're going to do this, we need to figure out how to stop your vision first."

"Did you have an idea?" Liz questioned.

Isabel nodded. "I've never tried anything like this before but I think it could work."

Isabel explained that since she could enter people's minds, that maybe she could enter her vision. Liz was skeptical at first but she knew they were running out of time and had to try something. She reluctantly agreed.

"Give me you hand Liz." Isabel sat directly in front of her in indian style, her hands palm up. "Clear your mind."

"I'm really scared to do this," a look of worry spread across Liz's face.

"Trust me," Isabel held her hands out, "We can do this."

Liz placed her hands in Isabel's.

"Just relax and clear your mind of everything except your vision," Isabel directed.

Liz closed her eyes and began to focus on the visions she'd been receiving. She closed her eyes, taking deep breathes, and remembering what it felt like when she first experienced this omen of hers. Isabel held onto her hands, intent on entering the other girl's mind.

Liz tried to focus on the vision only but other things continued to jumble her mind. Isabel could see nothing. She continued to run into barriers until she was exhausted mentally.

Liz opened her eyes and sighed deeply. "I don't know if I can do this."

"We have to," Isabel opened her eyes and got up from the bed. "We can't worry about this and Tess."

"This, my powers are still new to me." Liz leaned against the headboard.

"You can do this Liz." Isabel reassured her. "You just have to focus. This is new to me too you know."

"And does that scare you, to do something you've never done before?" Liz questioned.

"Of course," Isabel ran her fingers through her hair. "But I believe we can do this if we both concentrate."

Liz sat for a moment, thoughtfully. This was her chance to end what had been eating away at her for weeks. She would take care of this, and then she would take care of Tess.

"Okay, let's try again."

Tess followed the subway trail to the place she'd been before. She knew the other aliens managed to live there unharmed and figured she'd be safe there as well. Her eyes scanned the underground room; the couch was still there along with what remained from the reject's pods but otherwise it was empty. No cd's, no hockey sticks, and no sign of Loni and Rath. Good. She smiled slightly.

She threw her bag on the ground and laid on the couch. Memories of Max flooded her mind and how close they became here. When he stood up to Rath, it was the first time she felt he actually cared about her. Yeah right Tess, he never really cared about you. Tess tried to block it, Him, out of her mind yet her thoughts remained. She'd told him of the faith she had in him; that she knew he was a good king and had been a great husband. In her heart, she still felt that way; it was the present she had doubts about.

Tess stretched across the sofa, relishing the few moments she could take to rest. She had to gather her strength. Tess rubbed her side, still sore and healing from the injuries she sustained. The broken woman closed her eyes, allowing herself to fall asleep. At first she looked peaceful but then her body began to shift as she started to recall her once forgotten memories.

"They can't know you've woken up," Ava whispered. "She can't find out you know the truth."

Tess looked up at her twin, her eyes pleading. "Ava you can help me, please."

The young woman shook her head in fear.

"Please," Tess' eyes filled with water. "Don't let them do this."

"Shh…" Ava put a finger over her mouth. "She'll hear you."

"Where is Alex?" Tess questioned.

"This will all be over soon," Ava tried to force a smile at the girl lying before her. "I'm so sorry but you have no idea what she's capable of. She'll kill us both." She turned to walk away.

"Ava!" Tess called at her back.

Ava's hand was barley touching the door knob when it opened in front of her. Loni stepped inside the room, intimidating the girl before her.

"She woke up," Loni grabbed Ava by the arm, jerking her. "And you weren't going to say anything? Do you think that was smart?" Loni had a way of invoking fear into the girl.

"I'm… I'm," Ava stuttered, unable to form a complete sentence.

"I won't let you get away with this," Tess did not let Loni scare her. She concentrated, trying to use her powers to remove her constraints.

"It won't work," Loni eyes darted to a black device a few feet away from her. "A little gift from that ufo buddy of yours."

Tess looked at the device, then back at Loni, her eyes wide.

"Too bad he didn't know you could concentrate it in a certain area, which means that I can use my powers outside this room and so can she. Let's go." Loni exited the room, pushing Ava out in front of her and then slammed the door shut.

Tess sprung up quickly, realizing nothing was as it seemed. I didn't kill Alex? I was set up by Loni? But why? It was an answer she had to find out. Her mind raced with questions now. Was this just about the granilith or something else? Is the danger my son's in now connected to it? Tess wondered if this changed everything, if once Max knew the truth, could they be together again? But how could she get him to believe her; that was a question she hoped she'd have the answer to.

Liz tried to recall the details of her vision: the people she saw running, the explosion, the fire. Her breathing was labored; eyes closed tightly as she bid the prophecy to replay in the mirror of her mind. She and Isabel sat face to face, both in indian style, concentrating on the task before them. They had been at this for over an hour now. Isabel took a deep breathe and placed her hand on top of Liz's. Her eyes were closed as she willed herself inside of her friend's mind.

Isabel could see shadows of images but nothing was clear. She found herself swallowed by darkness and unable to sense any direction yet she felt she was getting closer. She stretched the arms of her mind out, forcing herself to connect with Liz's vision.

And all at once, she saw it.

At first it was blurry; hazy images of moving as well as stationary figures but within a matter of seconds the scene focused. Isabel suddenly found herself outside of a burning building. There were people scurrying away and others staring full of fascination. She noticed how only one man stood out to her. Isabel felt almost drawn to him.

She headed towards the man, unsure of what she would say but determined to find out if he had the answers she so desperately needed. She wasn't even sure that she could interact with the people in the vision like in her dream walks but she was determined to try anyhow. Just as she was walking behind him, another man joined him.

"We did it Earl!" The second man laughed.

"Yeah we did it alright," his expression was not as happy as his friend's.

"Did what?" Isabel came from behind them.

Earl grabbed her by the arm. "Where did you come from? What did you hear?"

The second man lunged toward Isabel as she pulled out of Earl's grip. She held her arm up, visualizing the second man flying across the grass but nothing happened. She flicked her wrist, again, resulting in nothing.

"Crazy broad," the second man pushed her to the ground.

Isabel feel back, knocking her head.

"Isabel," Liz screamed, unable to hold the connection, she broke out of her translucent state. Her eyes opened to find Isabel lying unconscious on the bed. Liz bent over her, shaking the amazon's limp body. She pushed Isabel's eyelids open but they only revealed the whites of her eyes. Oh my God, what have we done? Liz jumped off the bed in a panic, flinging the door open as it slammed into the wall. "Max!" She was hysterical at this point. "Max hurry, it's Isabel!"

Max and Michael both ran down the hall and to the bedroom as soon as the heard Liz scream. Maria and Kyle followed close behind them. When they arrived, Isabel was passed out on the bed and Liz was hovering over her with a worried look on her face. She was shaking Isabel and calling for her to wake up.

"Liz, what the hell happened?" Michael's tone was accusatory. "Isabel." He kneeled down beside the bed. Not again. He glanced up at Max as he walked towards her.

Liz was shaking her head back and forth, tears filling her eyes. "Max, I don't know what happened."

"C'mon Is," Max sat beside his sister, quickly putting his hands on the sides of her head and concentrating on pulling her out of this state.

Liz got up and backed away, wanting to give Max room to heal Isabel. She could feel Maria, Kyle, and Michael staring at her for an explanation but she didn't know what to say.

Max's mind raced with fear. He couldn't lose his sister, she was his best friend. They'd been together from the moment they came out of the pods. He stared intensely at her as his hands begun to glow. Max started to see flashes from different moments in her life.

Taking a deep breath of air in, Isabel suddenly awoke. She looked up at her brother, his hands still encompassing her head. "Max," she smiled up at him, and then looked around the room at all the faces staring at her. "I'm okay." She turned her attention to the shaken young woman leaning against the dresser. "Liz, I know how to stop it."

"You scared the hell out of us." Michael was still kneeling beside her.

Isabel grabbed his hand, squeezing it reassuringly. She sat up and embraced Max after she looked at his still worried face. "It's okay. I was lost in this dark place but I knew you'd find me."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Max sat back, his hands holding her shoulders.

She nodded. "Yes."

"I'm still lost," Maria finally spoke. "What happened here? You know how to stop what?"

"Liz's vision," Isabel replied. "There was a man there. He's the one we need to stop."

"That's not a lot to go on," Kyle said, his eyes still fixated on Isabel.

"His name is Earl. I heard his friend call him that when I was inside of Liz's vision." Isabel smoothed a hand over her hair. "They're the ones who caused the explosion; they can stop it from happening."

"Earl?" Max's eyes squinted slightly.

"Something you wanna share Maxwell?" Michael was now standing with his arms folded over his chest.

"It's something I saw on the desk in that supervisor's office," Max recalled seeing that name amongst some papers on the desk. "It looked like he was suing them."

"…Suing the Convention Center?" Liz questioned. "Why?"

"I'm really not sure." Max wished he paid more attention to the document now. "It looked like a civil case."

"Maybe he lost and now he's found a way to make them pay," Maria was half joking.

"Maybe," Isabel looked resolute. "I'm serious. What if he worked there?"

"That may be reaching a bit?" Kyle raised his eyebrows. "Lots of people lose cases, they don't blow up buildings."

"Well some people do or crystal ball wouldn't keep having a vision of it," Michael replied.

Liz slanted her eyes at him, she hated that he'd nicknamed her crystal ball. "We need to get back into that office."

"So what are we waiting for then?" Isabel stood up as everyone's eyes fixated on her. "The sooner we stop this, the sooner we can find Zan."

"Isabel, Liz, and I will go to the Convention Center tonight and see what else we can find." Max rose from where he was sitting. "You guys find out whatever you can on New York adoption agencies. We need to move on this as fast as we can after we stop the vision."

Tess trudged along the streets of New York, unsure of where to look for her missing child. She cursed Max for giving him up to strangers, and especially for not even knowing where he was. As she passed women carrying babies or pushing strollers, she stared into every child's face hoping against all odds Zan would just appear.

Tess had just visited the seventh adoption agency on her list, which turned up no information, just as the others had. Disappointed and tired, she sat at a bus stop, holding back the tears that threatened to fill her eyes. How am I ever going to find him? She lifted her head and through blurry eyes she saw a petite woman walking down the street.

The woman was wearing jeans and a brown hooded sweater, but what had really caught Tess' eye was the child she held close to her. Although she could not see what the baby looked liked, her heart told her it was Zan.

Tess rose from the bench, dashing across the street. She did not want to cause a scene in the middle of the street or risk Zan getting hurt so she decided to follow her.

The girl in the brown jacket hurried down the block, her head constantly looking around as if she was hiding from someone. Tess bent her head down and let her hair fall in front of her face. She wasn't sure if the girl was human or alien but either way Tess didn't want her to know she was following her. After a few minutes, the hooded girl came to a huge building that had obviously been closed for a long time. Tess watched as the girl scanned behind her and quickly ducked into a once boarded door.

Tess hurried to catch up, entering the same doorway and climbing the same stairs the girl had. She scanned the area, understanding why the building was closed down. It was a mess. There were shards of glass scattered across a dirty cement floor, broken and abandoned pieces of chairs and tables, and lost clothing spread throughout the room. The walls were pasted with either flyers or teenage graffiti.

As she reached the corner, Tess saw a dim light reflecting out of a doorway at the end of the hall. She crept up, curious on how anyone could live like this with a baby, any baby, let alone hers. She tried to prepare herself for who she may be facing. Was she a skin? Did she know she was holding the heir to a throne in her arms or was she just a human caught in something she knew nothing about?

Tess peered at the lady in brown. She held the sleeping child in her arms, rocking the baby back and forth before she laid him in a carriage. She pulled the hoodie off to reveal black shoulder length hair with chucky highlights that were a very pale shade of pink. The dark haired woman pulled off the jacket and tossed it on a crate. Tess' eyes grew wide as the young woman turned around, revealing her face.

Tess came out of the shadows and blasted her mirror image to the ground. "Get away from my baby!"

She lay on the ground for a few moments, her eyes wide with fear as she looked up at the person who knocked her down. "Tess," the words finally came from Ava's mouth.

"I should kill you right now," Tess seethed with rage as she stared down at the girl lying before her. "Where are the others?"

"What others?" Ava questioned. Her body trembled as she tried to rise up.

Tess blasted Ava to the ground again. "Don't play dumb with me Ava. Where are Loni and Rath?"

"I don't know, I swear." Ava looked terrified. She knew that one day this would happen.

Tess scooped the still sleeping child from the crib, laying him on the chair behind her. She glanced back at Ava. "Don't even think about it!" She touched her son's face and whispered, "Its okay now, Mommy's here." Tess turned back to see Ava push herself from the floor.

"You remember now, don't you?" Ava asked softly. "I knew one day you would."

"You killed Alex!" Tess was furious. She'd lost so much because all her friends were convinced she was the one who killed Alex.

"No," Ava shook her head. "This is all Loni."

"You mind warped me into believing I sent Alex to decode the book." Tess could feel her whole body filling with energy. "I lost everything because of the three of you! I lost my life; now tell me why you shouldn't lose yours?"

"Wait," Ava felt the intensity of her blasts and had no doubt Tess could kill her. "You have questions Tess, I know you do and I can give you the answers. I never wanted any of this, it was all Loni. I swear. I'll tell you everything, I swear!"

Tess looked into Ava's eyes. Maybe she's telling the truth. What difference would it make if I kill her now or after I get my answers? "Okay, you've got five minutes."

Max put his hand over the door unlocking it with his powers. He turned, gesturing behind him to call for Isabel and Liz.

They walked through the dark corridors until they found a door that would lead them out of these narrow hallways and into the actual facility. The girls followed Max up the stairs he traveled before and entered the office quickly and quietly.

Max approached the desk expecting to find the documents but the desk was cleared off. The papers were gone. He slammed his fist on the desk, worried they'd be too late- for the people in the vision and for Zan.

Isabel came up behind him, placing her hand on his shoulder. "They have to be here somewhere." She walked over to one of the cabinets and began searching through it.

Max followed suite, looking through cabinets as well while Liz looked through the drawers in the desk.

"There has to be another office somewhere with a computer in it," Liz scanned the room. "At least one with employee files."

"We should split up," Isabel looked over her shoulder at Liz and Max.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Max replied. "We should stick together."

"We can cover more ground this way," Isabel began walking towards the door. "Liz and I can find the employee records while you look for the court papers. We can meet you back here in fifteen or twenty minutes."

"We're running out of time Max," Liz said.

"Then I'll go and you two can stay here," Max felt they'd be safer if they stayed in one place.

"You don't know what he looks like Max," Isabel replied. "We stood face to face. I have to go."

"And maybe seeing his face could trigger another vision," Liz looked directly in his eyes. "Trust us, we're trusting you."

He knew what she meant. "Okay," he conceded. "First sign of anything strange…"

"It'll be fine," Isabel opened the door, walking out.

Liz lingered for a moment before turning and following Isabel into the hallway.

Max continued to tear through cabinets, searching for papers that would bring him hope. He searched through file after file, paper after paper with no luck. Max opened every drawer and still nothing.

He paused for a moment, letting his mind drift to his son. How can I find Zan if I can't even find a piece of paper? Just at that moment he caught a glimpse of something white out the corner of his eye. He bent down, noticing it was wedged between the last cabinet and the wall. Max stood back, held his hand up and slid the row of file cabinets over. Max picked up the stapled group of papers, knowing immediately it was what he'd been searching for. He quickly rolled the papers up, shoving them into his pocket before returning the cabinets and leaving the office in search of Liz and Isabel.

"After I left Roswell, I went to California." Ava spoke rapidly, trying to include every detail. "I always wanted to go there…"

"Spare me," Tess scoffed, raising her hand again.

"Wait!" Ava's eyes were pleading. "I knew Loni and Rath would come after me after they found out I helped Isabel warn Max so I went to California. And everything was fine until she found me."

Tess lowered her arm, deciding to hear her story before she did anything.

"She told me that I'd never be free; that they would always find me unless I helped them." Ava shook her head. "I didn't want to but I didn't want to die like my Zan did, so I did what she said."

"Did what Ava?" Tess was becoming bored with her drawn out story. She hadn't received any answers.

"She wanted me to send Alex to decode the book and mind warp you into believing you sent him." Ava leaned against the window seal. "If she could get you guys to activate the granilith and go home in it, Kivar would get everything he wanted and she'd get to return home and rule at his side."

"But Nacedo made a deal with Kivar?" Tess squinted, unsure if what she was saying was true.

"No, Loni made the deal." Ava replied. "She said something happened in New York, that she could get in your mind somehow and that it would make you more susceptible to the mind warp." Ava bit at the side of her lip nervously. "I didn't completely understand it myself but it's how I could change your memories so easily only I did it wrong."

"What do you mean?" Tess was a bit uneasy.

"I wanted you to remember eventually," Ava looked at her with truth in her eyes. "I wanted to help you because we're the same but the three of them…"

"Three?"

"You don't remember everything then?" Ava's question was not meant to be answered. "Rath, Loni, and well I guess you know her as Jennifer."

"Jennifer?" The name sounded familiar to Tess but she couldn't place where she heard it. As Ava kept talking about her being with Alex during her stay in Las Cruces it suddenly dawned on her. Max had told her about Alex's girlfriend from his supposed trip to Sweden being Jennifer Coleman from the university. They thought she was an alien at the time.

"Leanna is not Leanna," Tess suddenly said. "Leanna is Jennifer Coleman."

"Actually Leanna is Leanna, at least that's her name from before but she calls herself Jennifer with humans." Ava saw the confused look on the other alien's face. "Before you were Ava but now you're Tess, it's like that. She's a skin."

"That's impossible. Max and Liz checked her blood when she pricked herself and it was completely human." Tess shook her head back and forth.

"It would be," Ava rolled her eyes. "They aren't like us, they're parasitic."

Tess looked at the other alien, perplexed.

Sensing the confusion from the blonde standing before her Ava started to explain, "The husk, as they call it, is living human tissue which they live off of in a way, kind of like huge tape worms. It's like a human exoskeleton."

"So if you pricked it you'd get human blood?" Tess finally began to believe Ava's words.

Ava continued to tell her story; how Loni was to deliver the four of them to Kivar, leave Rath and return to Antar. She told of Alex being a pawn to decode the book and how Loni set it up for them to discover only part of the translation. The granilith had not been their only way home; just the one Kivar wanted them to take.

Tess sat now, taking in everything Ava told her. How Loni had connected to her and at times, almost controlled her. How Ava saw Max's parents bringing the baby to an agency across town and how Ava mind warped the workers and took the baby believing Tess had died. There was so much for Tess to process; it seemed so complicated but in the end it was very simple. She had not betrayed any of them? She had not betrayed Max?

Ava told the rest so quickly, finally laying down the burden that she'd been carrying around. She was sobbing now. "I'm so sorry I was too weak to stop them."

Tess wanted to be angry with her but as she looked at the face that looked so much like her own, she couldn't. She was of victim of the situation almost as much as Tess and she had just given her the greatest gift; the truth. "Loni did this Ava. It was not your fault."

Tess looked back at the child lying in the chair; he was still fast asleep through all of this. She scooped Zan up in her loving embrace, relieved to have her son in her arms again. Tess kissed him on the forehead tenderly. I'll never let you go again.

"She stole so much from me," Tess was angry but looking at Zan's face kept her calm. "She has to pay."

"She will," Ava looked up through teary eyes. "He will make her pay."

Tess looked at her quizzically but looking at Ava's emotional state decided to let it go, for now.

Isabel leaned forward in the chair, scrolling through the pictures on the screen while Liz leaned over her.

"Oh my god Liz, this is him." Isabel clicked on his picture, bringing up his information. "Look at this, terminated."

"That was only a few months ago," Liz replied. "Does it say why?"

"No," Isabel shook her head. "But it does give us an address. I think we should pay him a little visit."

"Hey," Max entered the room as Isabel and Liz turned around quickly, both rising to their feet. They soon calmed as soon as they realized who it was. "I found it. It looks like he lost the case."

Liz retrieved the papers from his hand. "He was suing for being responsible for someone named Emma's death, as her next of kin."

Isabel turned back to the computer, printing out the page she was looking at. "Max, his address is on here. We have to go." She retrieved the paper from the printer.

"We can't just show up at this guy's house in the middle of the night." Liz was cautious. "What are we going to say?"

"We can't waste time Liz, you said it yourself." Isabel was eager to solve this problem so they could solve the other one.

"We have to be careful Isabel," Max spoke directly. "We'll go tomorrow."

And with that it was settled.