Tess laughed as she stepped past the door Michael was holding open and into the empty apartment, Max following just behind her. She was so happy, for once, finally feeling safe and content. She had a healthy son, her best friends back, and her love accepting her and wanting to wed her. She felt so high up that she never thought she'd come down…until she noticed that the apartment wasn't as empty as she had first thought.
Liz was sitting stiffly on the couch, apparently waiting for the group to show up. Michael stepped up behind Tess, wondering why she had stopped short when he saw Liz. He mentally cursed himself for not getting his spare key back from Maria…this was not going to end well.
"Hello Liz," Tess said, trying to be polite. She walked to the bedroom to put a sleeping Zan down.
"Max," Liz said leaping up and rushing to him the moment Tess was out of the room. "You have to listen, Tess…she's lying." She waited for the reaction she expected from Max, complete trust in her words…but what she got shocked her.
"What?" he asked, disbelief ringing in his words.
Liz glanced quickly at the slightly open bedroom door, before returning her attention to Max. She leaned in closer, lowering her voice till she was sure Tess wouldn't hear. "I've been thinking…"
"That's never good…" Michael mumbled to himself.
"…about everything Tess said." Liz continued pretending not to have heard him. "There are pieces that just don't fit right, holes in the story, not to mention evidence that we found when she left…"
"When who left?" Tess asked, stepping back into the room, walking over to Max, who wrapped an arm around her waist instinctively.
Liz's mouth dropped open slightly at this unexpected turn of events. She remained that way for a moment before shaking her head to snap herself out of her trance. "When you left," she replied, "I have some things I need to ask you Tess."
Liz quickly walked over to the small coffee table where she picked up a small red notebook. "Is that my Chem. notebook?" Tess asked, slightly confused at what Liz was doing with her old notebook.
"Yeah, it is." Liz said, flipping a few pages, before looking up at Tess. "I thought that Zan was too sick to survive here on Earth, how is he able to now?"
Tess looked taken aback at the sheer accusing/suspicious tone in Liz's voice. "I had some treatments done for him on Antar, enough so that he could survive my trip here. It'll only last about two weeks, but I wanted Max to at least meet his son. Why? Do you think I'd endanger my son?"
"Well it wouldn't surprise me," Liz said bitingly, growing angry at how Max's grip on Tess tightened ever so slightly. "After all, you were the one who said that you were raised by a killer, a sick and twisted man. For all we know you could be as bad as him."
Instead of getting angry, which Tess was sure Liz wanted, Tess took a claming breath. "You know, I read that when it comes to Nurture vs. Nature, especially in 'bad' homes, a child has two options in the end. It can either choose to follow the same path as the parent, because that is all it knows, or it can choose never to act that way knowing full well that it is wrong. I knew enough about what Nasaedo was doing to know I could never bring myself to do the same. I resisted, I fought back, I…"
"Didn't bother to stop him from killing?" Liz supplied.
"Liz," Tess said firmly, "What would you have a 7 year old, a 15 year old even, do? Fight a killer? Risk loosing the only person keeping you alive and semi-safe? Let me ask you…"
"And what about this?" Liz interrupted, rifling through the pages again, before producing a loose piece of paper. Tess' eyes widened slightly in what Liz partook as being fear. She held the paper up to Tess, letting her get a good look at the nefarious plan to turn the royal four in to Kivar. "I found this in your old house. When I compared it to your handwriting in the notebook, it was the same. It's a plot to overthrown King Zan…what do you think of that?"
If the situation were less serious, Tess would have laughed at Liz's words. She had such a focus on pinning Alex's murder on her that she didn't pay attention to the finer details that all would be scientists should.
A small smile made it's way onto her face as she leaned into Max's embrace, and looked up at Liz. "My turn to ask a question, did you happen to notice the y's? The t's? The i's?"
Liz looked at her curiously for a moment before inspection the y's, t's, and i's, in the letter and notebook. At first, they all appeared the same…but then she started to notice the curves at the end of the y. In the notebook, the end curved just before crossing past the stem of the y, but in the letter it went all the way through. The crosses of the t were different too, they were slanted in the notebook but straight in the letter…the dots of the i was slanted as well in the notebook, and a simple dot in the letter… 'Shit…' she thought.
"If you only have one person teach you how to write, it is possible for the handwriting to be similar." Tess said simply seeing the realization dawning in Liz's eyes. She smiled more, "I guess you didn't dot the i's or cross the t's." She said laughing at her own little pun, getting a chuckle out of Michael as well.
This only served to infuriate Liz more. To be embarrassed in front of Michael was one thing, but in front of Max… "What about what Alex said?" Liz added, "What did he mean by he could never be with me, physically speaking?"
Tess sighed, 'So this is what this was all about…' she thought to herself. "We were genetically created to be with each other," Tess started, "Hybrid with Hybrid…we weren't made to be with humans…" She waited a moment, hoping that Liz would get the picture…but she didn't, forcing Tess to elaborate. "Max could never have been with you physically, as in sex," she shuddered, "because our cells are completely different from yours. The reaction between a mixing of the cells would be disastrous…it could have ended in death. The joining would have made one of you sick and dead."
Tess sat down on the couch; this was not a conversation she wanted to be having…ever. It wasn't just the thought of what could have happened to one of the aliens, it was the fact that she knew Max and Liz had strongly been considering it…that much was obvious by Max's reaction to the whole Kyle/Liz situation.
"That's a lie." Liz said simply, eyes blazing with fury as she glared at Tess.
"Oh really? And you would know how?" Tess asked, staring at her in mock confusion, "Kissing Max and getting flashes does in no way make you an expert on Alien D.N.A." Max sat down beside her just then, gently holding her hand; he could tell that Tess was getting angry.
"And you are?" Liz asked, "How do you know? You're still here, so obviously you haven't…"
"Don't even go there Liz," Tess said in a regal tone that shut the brunette up quite effectively. "I was raised by an alien, I think he would know a thing or two…and even if he didn't he proved it…"
"He proved it?" Liz asked, disbelievingly, "Right, because I'm so sure that he had an extra set of hybrid hanging around…"
"He took me to a hospital." Max and Michael looked at her, they didn't know that. "You wouldn't know Liz, but Nasaedo had all the powers that we did, on a smaller scale. The guardians had to be able to protect and teach us. He mind warped the doctors in the hospital to think that I was an older woman who wanted to start a family of her own. He wouldn't let them inject me with anything, but they harvested some of my eggs, and brought in human sperm. The result was…disturbing…" She trailed off recalling how that little escapade had gone. As soon as the sperm made it's way into the egg, it turned black. The cells started to split faster than normal. The scientists had to dispose of the sample fearing a new sort of virus or cancer. "They told me that they couldn't do it, that I couldn't become pregnant…Nasaedo didn't bother to tell me that it was only by humans that I couldn't become pregnant, not by Max. So there I was, 15 thinking that Max wouldn't want a wife that couldn't produce an heir. It wasn't till we got here that he told me the truth."
She glanced over at Max who looked very pale at the description of what Nasaedo had done. Michael was in no better shape. It was only Liz who seemed a normal color; she was just shaking in rage. "That's a lie," she said again. "You just want Max to be with you and are telling some lie to keep him away from me. If it was true why didn't you say something when you first got here?"
"Are you kidding me?" Tess asked standing, truly not believing what she was hearing, "As if any of you would have believed me? You all would have thought I was just trying to keep you separate. You'd both have gotten together just to prove me wrong. Not only did I not want Max to die, I didn't want to think that you were sleeping with my husband." Tess was shaking now. How could Liz accuse her of lying? She may have wanted Max, but now Max wanted her. He had her and she had him, what reason did she have to lie now?
"Liz…" Max said, standing next to Tess. "I think you should leave."
"What?" she asked, unable to comprehend the fact that Max wanted her to leave?
"Leave." He ordered, "Now."
Liz's mouth dropped open as she stared at Max, her soul mate, defending that…that…
Her body had already started heading to the door in a daze when she realized what she was doing. But she continued on her journey, refusing to look back at the man who betrayed her.
"Don't let the door hit ya on the way out!" Michael called from his position drinking a Snapple in the kitchen as she stepped out the door, glad to finally be rid of the human danger.
I
I
I
Max stepped quietly into the bedroom where Tess was laying on the bed in a fetal position. Michael was staying up to wait for Alex who was catching up with Maria. They had discussed some things once Tess went to the bedroom to get ready for bed; Max had come to a decision. Gently he shook Tess' shoulder, she wasn't really sleeping, but deep enough in thought as to not notice his presence…a very rare occurrence.
"Max?" she asked, she could tell he had something to say.
"Tess…" he began, "I…I want to remember."
"What?" she asked in disbelief. He had never truly wanted to remember Antar before.
"I want to remember Antar, I want to remember you, to remember the language, the food, the traditions…everything."
"Why?"
"Do you not want me to remember?" he asked confused. She had always been so determined to get them to remember.
"No, I do, but…" she trailed off, unsure of how to continue. "Are you sure you want to remember everything now?"
Max had caught something in her words, "Can you get me to remember everything right now?"
She nodded slowly, after a moment's hesitation. "Why didn't you make me remember that night during the memory retrievals?"
"I couldn't then, I wasn't powerful enough…and you didn't trust me." Max gave her a look; he could tell that wasn't the whole reason. She smiled slightly, their conversation reminding her of Ava and Zan, they always knew each other so well, knowing when the other was hiding something or worried… She sighed, "I didn't want you to love me because of the memories. I wanted you to love me, not what you remembered of Ava. To love me the way I loved you, not Zan." She looked down at her hands, "I loved you before I knew that you were Zan. Nasaedo showed me the pictures of you three, when we got all our stuff, the day after I came to Roswell. I didn't even know that you, Isabel, or Michael were hybrids till a good two days after I met you three."
"Tess," Max said, gently, lifting her hands in his. "You don't have to worry about loving Ava and not you. I do love you."
Tess smiled slightly, not really believing him, but trusting him. She lifted her hands to his temples and closed her eyes to concentrate on finding the area of his mind that was blocked off from his past. She smiled in her mind at the sight of Max's mind, so full of thoughts of her and hopes of their future together. She pushed her way through till she came to a blockage. She knew that it was the right place; the V-shape star pattern shimmered just out side of it. Using her status as Queen, she broke through the blockage, freeing the memories of the King.
Tess opened her eyes to see Max's still closed. She gently stroked his face. He brought his hand up to hold her's to his face, leaning into her touch. His eyes opened focusing on hers. He brought up his other hand, gently wiping away a tear with his thumb before asking the one thing that ensured he remembered…
"Ava?"
A/N: Hi-ya, I don't know if the whole Nasaedo demonstration of Alien-Human pregnancies makes sense…I made it up, lol.