Max sat by his desk, watching as Tess turned fitfully in her sleep. He was tired as well; she had had a lot of bruises and cuts all over her body. Her knee had been broken as well as having a fever start to rise. He had done the best he could for her, not able to fully heal her knee, she moved to much when he touched her, almost as if she feared his touch. He shook his head; this was no time to think of that now.
Suddenly Tess bolted up on the bed, "Zan!" She cried. Max wasn't sure if she was having a nightmare about the past or not. It wasn't until she added, "Where's Zan?" That Max realized she was talking about the baby.
"You named the baby Zan?" He asked, softly, not sure whether he should be angry with her for using his past name or happy that she picked a name that meant a lot to her…how could a murderess care?
Tess looked at him, as if just realizing he was there. "Well, he is your son," She said looking around his room, collecting her thoughts, "and that is your real name. Where is he?"
She was looking at him again with those baby blue eyes that seemed to see into his very soul. "In the other room," he replied, then added with a small laugh, "with his very confused grandparents."
Tess leapt off the bed, almost falling as pressure was put on her bad knee. Max moved to catch her however, sitting her down on the bed again.
"...I guess it would be too much to ask you to heal this?" Tess asked quietly, as Max gently rubbed the sore area around her knee. She wasn't sure what was going on, she had gotten the impression that everyone in Roswell…at least those who knew about the aliens, believed her to be a murderer, the killer of Alex. Why was Max acting like this?
Max held his hand lightly over the wound on Tess' knee, a small white glow following soon after. A moment later there was not even a cut to be seen or a scar to indicate that the knee had been broken. Tess stared in shock at Max; she had not been expecting him to actually heal her, as much as she hated to admit it, she had expected him to knock her legs out from under her. She knew it didn't sound much like something Max would do, but when people you care for are in pain, you do things you'd normally never do…boy, did Tess know that one first hand.
"Thanks," She said, looking up into his chocolate brown eyes. They were so close together; she could feel his breath tickling her cheek.
Max didn't know what to do, he was so close to Tess, thoughts seemed to be slipping out of his head as he leaned in closer to her. A quiet baby's cry sounded from the other room, snapping Max back into reality. "I thought the child couldn't survive here." He said, trying to collect his thoughts. He was sitting with a murderer; he shouldn't be feeling the way he was.
Tess stared at him, how could he know that?
"I got a flash when I healed your bruises," He said, explaining how he knew the truth behind her having to leave, leaving her to wonder what else he had seen.
She looked down at her feet, knowing as well as Max that he should be angry with her right now. "He couldn't," she answered truthfully, trying to forget the pain that it had caused them to hear about the possibility of death for the child. To that day it still scared her to think that the child could have died. "But once he was on Antar his lungs healed. He had some treatments to be able to come visit daddy." She said, daddy slipping past her lips in a more bitter way than she had intended.
"You said that Earth's atmosphere was killing you." Max recalled, trying his best not to reveal his doubts about Tess' situation.
"That was true, the baby…it was dieing, and so was I as a result." She said, still refusing to look at him. "It was another reason for me to get home, I had to do what ever it took to save my baby."
"Including killing Alex?" Max shot back, sounding angrier than he actually was.
Tess looked towards the door, where the sound of the crying was getting louder, "I didn't mean to do it." She sighed, tears welling up in her eyes. She couldn't believe that they all deemed her the killer. Even more so that Max blamed her. But she had given up fighting. She just wanted to get what she had come here to do over with.
It was what Max said next that made her look up at him. "I should kill you right now." He said, raising a hand to her. He didn't want to, but Alex deserved to be avenged. "He was the first friend any of us had when our secret came out. And you killed him."
For once in the past four months Tess feared for her own life. So she said the only thing that would convince him to spare her, "If you kill me, you kill Zan." She hated to put him in that position, but he couldn't kill her till she told him everything.
"What are you talking about?" He asked, lowering his hand. Glad that he had a reason not to hurt her, even now he wasn't sure if he would have actually harmed her at all…his threat was most certainly empty.
"Zan, we're linked, Max. Physically. If I die, so does he." She looked down, hearing the truth in her own words. If it were possible she would have gladly died to make everyone happy, but once Zan was born, she couldn't. "If he dies, so do I." She added, making Max realize that she did speak the truth. Zan was dependent on her to sustain his life, at least until he was a few months older. But for now he fed off her strength.
That was one thing she had had to learn for herself from the other Antarian mothers who had helped her through her pregnancy. Antarian babies were entirely dependent on their mothers until they reached their sixth month. If the mother was sick or died in childbirth, the child would be sick and die too. It was a little mixed up the other way around though. The death of the mother due to the child's death was based on how connected they were. If a child died right off the bat due to a weakened connection to their mother or a disease that the mother did not have, the mother most likely wouldn't die physically. Emotionally, nothing could fill the gap of losing a child. But if a mother was deeply connected to the child, for example as the last connection she had to the husband, then she might die along with the child.
Tess considered herself lucky, Zan was fine, a nice normal alien birth.
Max let out a frustrated groan before dropping onto the bed next to a shocked Tess. He was angry with himself. Angry for not killing Tess, angry for letting the thoughts of others get to him, angry for threatening her. He couldn't kill her, even if he wanted to he couldn't. She deserved it, she killed Alex didn't she? But still, he couldn't even avenger Alex's death.
His mental belittling of himself was stopped short by a gentle hand on his shoulder. Tess, he looked at her, she gave a sad smile, understanding his situation. He couldn't begin to count the times she must have felt like a failure, especially with Nasaedo as a mentor. He could see the pain in her eyes. He didn't know from what, from guilt? From the past? From him?
"What happened Tess?" He asked quietly. He needed to know, why had she come to him so beaten and bloody. How could he protect her, if she, the strongest of the aliens, couldn't protect herself?
The baby's cry sounded again, drawing Tess' attention to the door. She looked at it longingly as she answered, "When a ruler is gone, there are followers who get angry and want revenge. Let's just say that Kivar's followers are just as cruel and sadistic as him."
She got up to head for the door, knowing that if she stayed too near Max she'd end up telling him the whole truth. Not just about Antar, but about her first week back on Earth, about Alex…
Max watched as Tess stepped beyond the door, knowing that she was headed for Zan. He stood to follow her…when the impact of her words reached him. 'When a ruler is gone…'
Did she…how…is he…
Kivar was…dead? Tess, his Tess had succeeded where they had failed years ago? Antar was free?
He quickly ran after Tess, making it to her just as Diane had handed the baby boy back to its mother. "We're going to Michael's." Max said, quickly grabbing the keys to his jeep.
"What?" Diane asked, startled that she had only gotten to spend but a moment with her apparent grandson.
"Maxwell, we need to talk about this…" Philip started.
"Later," Max said, cutting him short. He gently grabbed Tess' hand and led her silently to his jeep. Driving off towards Michael's hoping to whatever god the Antarians prayed to that Isabel wouldn't freak.
I
I
I
Isabel and Michael had just sat down for a movie after spending a nice evening at Michael's eating a dinner Isabel had prepared the good old human way, when the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it," Isabel said, laughing slightly at Michael's attempts to stand. He had eaten so much of her food; she thought it to be his last meal. He was so stuffed; he plopped down onto the couch and refused to move.
Isabel walked calmly over to the door, "Who is…" Her friendly greeting caught in her throat when she saw who was standing before her… "Tess…"