Four Months…that's how long Tess had been gone. Tess, once Ava, once the wife of Zan, now the only thing Max seemed to think about. Max had spent many hours lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling as memories slowly returned to him. He had only recovered a few memories, most of them were still fuzzy, but what ever Tess had said sparked something within him. The memories started to enter his mind, slowly, but they were coming. He realized with just the first few memories that Ava and Tess were exactly the same; the same expressions, the same voice, the same personality.
Max lay there, on his bed, thinking of all that had happened in the few months since Tess left. Liz and Maria had gone off on a mission to bring Alex's killer to justice; they believed it to be a murder. And, apparently, a murder it was. They tracked down Alex's killer to Leanne, the Swedish girl Alex had supposedly stayed with. But then, in a bizarre twist of events, it turned out that Leanne wasn't the killer…it was…it was Tess.
When Max had first heard it, he honestly couldn't believe that Tess had killed Alex, much less that she could kill anyone in cold blood. His fuzzy memory did recall Ava had killed, but only as a last resort to protect herself. Tess…she was just too much like Ava to have done that to Alex. But the evidence that they had found was critical in persuading Max of Tess' guilt. They had, in Liz's words, gathered information about the effects of mind warping from observations of Maria's mom Amy, of Kyle, and of accounts of Alex's behavior before his death. They even had an eyewitness account from Kyle, who had apparently been mind warped by Tess. That was what really got to Max. If Kyle, who had been like a brother to Tess, honestly believed that Tess had killed Alex and mind warped him, well, it must be true.
Max shook his head, sitting up on the bed. He couldn't believe that Tess would betray his trust like that. All the things she had done for him, all the support she had given him, was just a ploy to return to Antar with Max's child. He knew she wanted to go home, and Liz had shown him a letter she found in Tess' old house, which she searched once she had hypothesized that the killer might be alien. The handwriting on the letter was similar to Tess', it was a plan about Tess' pregnancy, returning to Antar with the royal four, turning them over, and ruling Antar with Kivar at her side raising Max's son as his own.
That had made Max sick to his stomach, for a month he had been feeling every aspect of guilt for what he had done to Tess. When he had seen Liz with Kyle of all people, he had fled feeling as if his heart had been ripped out by a blender. He had been sitting on the bench in the park for not even five minutes when Tess appeared and sat next to him. She didn't speak, just sat with him. And he was grateful, he didn't want to talk or be talked to. Every time he needed something, Tess had been there giving him just what he needed, be it a friend to talk to, a bully to knock some sense into him, or a wall to lean on. And he realized, as he sat on the bench in the park watching the light shoot into the sky, that he had never even thanked her, not even for destroying all of their enemy skins hell bent on killing them all.
He had spent a week with Tess, since the Liz/Kyle incident, and in all that time he had really gotten to know her better. He smiled to himself as he recalled learning her favorite pie was the odd flavored banana pie, not banana cream, just banana, as opposed to Liz's…well, he really didn't know her favorite, but he had seen her eat Cherry pie…or was it Raspberry? He remembered walking through the park at night, and how Tess could never leave till she smelled the buttercups, the small common flowers that you could find anywhere if you looked. He was never very good at finding them, but Tess…she had an uncanny ability to find any flower, especially buttercups. They were actually very beautiful in their simplicity, more so than the Roses that had to be white for Liz. He always found Tess humming a small song under her breath whenever he met her that week, she loved to sing, she didn't care if she was off key (which she rarely was in Max's opinion), or if she didn't know all the words. That's was one big difference he noticed between Tess and Liz, she was less reserved than Liz and unafraid of what others thought, even of what Max thought to a certain extent.
He shook his head again, he had been avoiding Liz that entire week, and by the end of it, he had seen her with Kyle in the halls of the school. He snapped; he had cut class, dragging Tess along with him. He left; she followed a few minutes later and spent the entire day looking for him. He had kept walking, not really stopping till he saw the observatory. At that moment he wondered if things would be better if he could find a way home to Antar. Never before had he ever thought of Antar as home, but before his thoughts could change, Tess appeared. She led him inside to show him a star that could be seen from Earth and Antar, making him feel closer to his distant home. He had kissed Tess then, and things got out of hand, to say the least. The thought that Tess could be pregnant after their night of passion never even crossed his mind.
He got up, leaving his room, heading for the kitchen for a glass of OJ with sugar. He had just shut the door to the fridge when he noticed the TV in the living room was on, static was playing, the VCR light was on, signaling that a movie was over but not ejected. He shook his head, moving into the living room about to shut the TV off when he noticed the two figures asleep on the couch. Michael was laid back on the corner of the couch, head back snoring lightly, arm wrapped protectively around Isabel who was curled on his chest. There was a blanket on their laps, partially hanging off the couch. "They must have fallen asleep in the middle of the movie," Max thought to himself, fixing the blanket to cover them more thoroughly before heading back to his room.
He smiled to himself, thinking of the one good thing that had come from Tess' horrible crime. Isabel, who had been extremely depresses since Alex's death, had finally begun to show signs of happiness, which could clearly be seen by the small smile Max saw on her face while fixing the blanket. Michael and Maria had been having some…problems, for about three months now, and were currently in a separation period. Michael and Isabel had been spending a lot more time together in the last month. It did have Max a little worried about the whole destiny thing Tess had been set on, but the look on their faces just then…they were happy, even if it was destiny playing out, he didn't care. After all that Michael and Isabel had been through, they deserved a little happiness…
Which only left Max with one question, would he be happy? He didn't know, after everything that happened, he should be glad that Liz still wanted to be with him considering the Tess-as-a-future-mother incident. And he was, truly he was…but still, one thought lingered in his mind.
Tess and Ava, Ava and Tess, one in the same. How could Tess do that to the humans she had come to accept, to the aliens who were connected to her, to him? She killed Alex, and for that he should hate her…but he couldn't, he just…couldn't…
I
I
I
The aliens were on edge lately. A few days ago a rumored UFO crashed; as if the stained relationship between Max and Liz and the established relationship of Michael and Isabel weren't enough, the last thing the aliens needed were more skins coming to get them. Max had been sitting in the dining room with his 'mother and father' eating some TV dinners. Since Isabel was at Michael's, it was just the three of them that night when suddenly there was a crashing noise in the kitchen.
Max's mother, Diane, looked up quickly, "What was that?" She said, asking the question on everyone's mind.
"I'll check it out." Max said moving towards the kitchen, readying himself for anything.
Max walked cautiously through the kitchen, eyeing every darkened area for any skin that might be waiting for him. But, the kitchen seemed empty, so he turned to head back into the dining room when a voice reached his ears, sending chills down his spine. "...Max..." the voice called softly. He shivered slightly, not sure if it was because it was the voice of a murderer or the pleasant sensation that ran down his spine at the sound of the voice, the one he had been imagining in his dreams as of late.
A young curly haired blonde woman appeared from the shadow at the corner of the room, a small baby clutched heavily in her arms.
"Tess..." Max said softly, not believing that the figure coming closer was really her.
He longed to reach out and touch her, just to make sure she was real, but once she stepped into the light, all thoughts left his head. Tess staggered towards him, stepping into the dim light, revealing bruises everywhere, around her eye, on her cheek, all over the arms he could see exposed from the rolled up sleeves of her plaid shirt. She was struggling for breath and Max guessed that she had more injuries yet to be seen, possibly a cracked rib or two..."or four," he mused staring at her battered form.
"Please..." Tess begged, "Hold him..." She gently placed the baby in Max's arms with a great effort just before she collapsed unconscious to the floor. Max jolted forward as if to catch her, but the quiet child he held in his arms, made it impossible to get to her. He looked on helpless, willing someone to come in to hold his child as he helped its mother. As if hearing the silent plea for help, Max's parents rushed into the kitchen.
"Max... What is it?" Philip Evans, father figure of the Evan's children asked, gazing at his wife who was kneeling by an unconscious girl lying on the floor of his kitchen.
Max knelt over by his mother, gently placing the baby boy into her nurturing arms, before scooping up the fragile woman, carrying her into his room. "It's my son."
A/N: Since the aliens didn't have to leave, they never gave their parents the video or made them suspicious of their children, so as far as the adults know, their kids are human. I'm not sure if I want Sean to be in the story yet or not, I'm either going to put Liz with Sean or with Kyle, I don't know yet. Suggestions are welcome. -
Next Chapter: Why is Tess back, what is Max's reaction, will he remember his complete Past?