Max and Liz's camper sat parked at an RV park in the Southwest corner of town, about two and a half miles from Northwest Texas Community College. The park could accommodate about six trailers. Large white oak trees provided both privacy and natural divisions between the plots. Once there, two groups formed naturally. While still a little at odds about how to go about it, Max and Ava needed to confront Zan about his friendship with Nicholas. They decided to do that inside the air-conditioned luxury camper, while Liz and Isabel spoke to Serena outside under a retractable awning.
Inside the camper, Max, Ava and Zan went to the wider living room area with expandable slide-outs on both sides of the trailer. Max sat at one of two dining chairs at a small dining room table in one of the slide-outs. Zan sat to his left in one of two theater seats in the center of the room, which faced a counter where a TV would go, though Max and Liz never owned one. Ava sat across from Max on a tri-fold sofa positioned in the other slide-out. Both Max and Ava sat closer to where the TV would go in order to face Zan more directly. To Max's left there was a hallway leading back to the kitchen area. To his right were stairs leading up to the bedroom.
Max grappled with the events of the past couple days as they related to his interactions with Zan. He wanted to believe Zan developed into a good young man and reconnect with him. However, recent events prevented him from ignoring some of Zan's suspicious behavior—especially after Max failed to act when he noticed Michael's uncharacteristic personality swings.
The first sign of strangeness occurred during the bully attack when Zan nearly projected the Royal Seal out of Max's head. Max never received an explanation from the emissary in New York, or Rath and Lonnie, on how that worked. But it seemed like something that someone would need to do with intent and not by accident. If that were the only oddity with Zan, Max could reason that he somehow channeled a buried instinct, like how Michael knew how to open the pod chamber shortly after they emerged from them.
Zan's rather creepy lurking over his and Liz's bed in the middle of the night marked another red flag. Max wanted to attribute that to a crazy day and the young adult's struggle to make sense out of seeing the subjects from the memory Max gifted him, just as Zan said. However, he needed to concede that it was inappropriately invasive to watch them sleep like that.
Next, Zan's ability to exert control over the flashes Max delivered to him. In high school, Max would see flashes of people he healed without understanding how or why. When he got together with Liz, he discovered that intense emotions could trigger flashes, which often occurred through sexual stimulation from making out. Even understanding that kissing could trigger a flash, Max couldn't control it or understand the power. And when he first encountered Nicholas and The Skins and they invaded his mind for memories, Max learned he possessed little instinct to fight back that kind of attack. He recalled a lengthy conversation with Liz after New York about how Ava seemed like the only good dupe, which became ironic after Tess exposed herself as the one treacherous Roswell hybrid. Max trusted Liz and felt that he could take Ava's remarks at face value that she believed Zan's abilities were limited.
Finally, knowing that Zan befriended Nicholas added a layer of suspicion, even if Zan didn't know Nicholas's true identity when they first met. Max couldn't ignore that the mental prowess Zan displayed far exceeded his capabilities as Ava described them, or what he could reasonably expect from a young man who supposedly never connected with anyone mentally in that way before. He couldn't dismiss that Nicholas could've helped Zan hone his abilities. And with Zan calling up alien-related memories and giving Max the eerie feeling that Zan probed for specific information, he needed to press his son for details on his motive and intentions. Max would never write off his son as an enemy, but he started to wonder if his absence from his son's life caused Zan to fall in with the wrong people, namely Nicholas.
Max decided to let Ava take the lead in the conversation, but he prepared himself to intervene if she accepted any incomplete explanations that Zan may try to offer.
"So Max here thinks you mighta been wise to how Nicholas is an alien," Ava started.
Zan hesitated. "I, uh…"
Ava clearly anticipated a different reaction.
"Were you?" she asked, raising her voice some and showing both surprise and irritability.
Zan put his head down, "Yeah," he admitted.
"You gotta be kiddin' me," Ava croaked, crushed by the revelation. "And you didn't tell me?!"
Ava repositioned herself into a tuck sitting position with her feet resting up on the sofa. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees.
"Did you know he was one of The Skins?" Max asked grimly.
"What? No," Zan contested. "You mean he's a Skin, as in one of your enemies that killed Nasedo, your… uh, friend?"
"Our protector," Max corrected.
"Nicky never said anything like that," Zan insisted.
"It's Nicholas," Max corrected again, exhibiting little patience, but he spoke softly and seriously.
"Fine, Nicholas," Zan said, sounding a bit defensive, which Max didn't care for. "Nicholas was generous and kind to me. I didn't ever feel threatened by him."
"How did you discover you were both aliens?" Max asked.
"He seemed to sense it the first time I met him and shook his hand," Zan explained. "He levitated a book and called it a magic trick. I asked him to explain to me how he did it and he kept prodding me to admit that I could do it, too. I said, 'Sure, if you teach me the trick I could learn it, too.' That's when he came out and told me that it was his alien powers and that he had the ability to sense that I was also an alien."
This sounded believable to Max. Nicholas also seemed to sense Isabel's true identity of Vilandra when they first encountered him in Copper Summit. In addition to that, by touching Zan to shake his hand, Nicholas could've invaded his mind to detect his alien heritage without Zan even knowing. Whether it was sheer luck or Nicholas suspected Zan's identity, Max couldn't say. Zan probably couldn't either. He glanced up at Ava who watched Zan looking heartbroken and distressed.
"So you just told him 'bout yourself," Ava asked, dismayed, "And about me? Even though that's the one thing I always told you never to do!"
"I told him about me," Zan argued with a calm, somewhat whiny voice screaming of naivety. "He never asked about you. I told him I was adopted and that I didn't know much about my birth parents. You certainly wouldn't tell me anything."
"To protect you," Ava pouted with pangs of both heartbreak and frustration.
Max pressed on with the questioning, "What information did Nicholas want from you?"
"He didn't want anything," Zan claimed. "He would just put his fingers near my temple and show me landscapes of his alien home. Beautiful scenery that made me dream about what my… or your… or our home planet might be like."
"And that's all," Max followed up, "he didn't want anything from you in return?"
"Well, he…" Zan hesitated again and Max glared intensely at him waiting for him to elaborate. "The plan for today was actually that he wanted me to meet others like him, like us. I wanted to go and see what other powers and visions they could show me."
"Oh, c'mon," Ava yelled in a scolding tone, "did you not pay attention to anything I ever taught you?!"
"Nicky never seemed dangerous," Zan shouted with tears starting to swell in his eyes. "He was just open with me. More open about this stuff than you ever were!"
"They were going to kill you, Zan!" Ava screamed.
"Eventually," Max agreed, remaining stern and not getting caught up in the shouting match unfolding between Zan and Ava. He directed his comments at Ava now, "But first they would torture him for information about you, me, Isabel and Michael, the real Michael. And if they found any of us, then they'd torture him more if they thought doing so would compel one of us to give up the location of the Granolith."
"Then they'd kill 'em," Ava added in a quiet, somber tone.
"I'm not going to sit here while you two patronize me by talking about me like I'm not even here," Zan scowled.
He then popped out of his chair and looked ready to storm off. Max raised his hand with his palm facing Zan. He simply intended that to convey stop, like a stop sign.
"We're not done here," Max warned.
Zan looked at him, becoming more flustered, but speaking in a quieter squeaky voice. "What are you going to do, Dad? Use your powers on me?!"
Max realized his gesture mirrored exactly what he would do if he intended to activate his powers. He quickly turned his palm back in toward his face, glanced down at his hand, closed his fist and then lowered it into his lap. Employing his powers never even crossed his mind.
"You come into my life out of nowhere, and suddenly you think it's your job to tell me everything I'm doing wrong," Zan added, still standing in front his chair.
"My job is to keep everyone here safe," Max explained firmly, "and that includes you. But right now you have information I need. Now sit down."
Zan sat down and crossed his arms.
Max continued, "When I gave you flashes of my life in Roswell, you took control. You dug into my mind and pulled at memories regarding more of my alien heritage. How did you know how to do that?"
"What?" Ava asked quietly, almost more to herself. Max interpreted that as a sincerely surprised reaction.
"I…" Zan became hesitant again, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Max studied him carefully. Between countless dangers including the government's pursuit, encountering both frightened victims and scheming criminals, Max honed a skill at detecting when someone lied to him.
In this instance, he felt an emotional tug that normally didn't interfere. He wanted to believe Zan. Nicholas was powerful enough to feed Zan visions while unknowingly pulling info from Zan's mind, and Max wondered if Nicholas could also plant subliminal instructions. Perhaps Zan learned what to do from Nicholas without knowing it.
A grim, gloomy feeling interrupted Max's train of thoughts. He knew that despite whatever logic may live within that line of thinking, he ignored his basic instinct. Zan's hesitation mirrored Max's mannerisms, especially at that age. It signaled something Zan preferred to withhold.
"Yes, you do," Max concluded.
"Ok," Zan admitted before pausing a couple beats. "Here's the thing. There was this one time where Nic… Nicholas showed me how I could kind of request what I want to see. So if I wanted to see mountains, I could focus on that and a mountain view from his home planet would come forward. Or if I wanted to see the water, I could call up his memories of a lake or an ocean view."
"Ok," Max decided he could move on for now, "what about shortly after I saved you from the bully attack? You hugged me and you were about to project the Royal Seal of Antar implanted on my brain out into the open. How did you know how to do that?"
Zan shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He looked over at Ava, like he hoped that her, as his mom, would save him and ask Max to back down. But Ava simply shot Zan a "tell him" look. Zan sighed, as if defeated, and Max anticipated that a breakthrough might be coming.
"What you have to understand," Zan explained, "is that exploring my alien side and capabilities... It's all new to me. Somehow, every time I hang out with Nicholas… I don't know… It's like new things I didn't think I could do are unlocked. I didn't recognize who you were in that alley, but when I hugged you, it's like I sensed this energy. I moved my hand to the back of your head and just tried to focus on 'the alien,' just like Nicky taught me."
Max read Zan's body language as open and honest, as much as ever since the conversation started. Even so, he couldn't reconcile the troubling thought that Max himself never sensed alien energy in another hybrid, a Skin or a shapeshifter. Even if Ava was mistaken about the ceiling of Zan's abilities, Max pegged it as unlikely that he could unlock an ability none of the other hybrids possessed. On the other hand, they all developed specialties: Max can heal, Isabel can dream walk, Tess could mind warp and Michael has the most raw power. Max didn't know anything about Ava's unique ability. He wondered if this sensory perception be Zan's unique ability.
Max looked over at Ava, "Can you sense anything from another alien?"
Zan looked over at her like he expected her to say yes.
"No," she replied plainly.
"Neither can I," Max added.
"What," Zan stammered, "What does that mean?"
Max paused a moment before answering.
"I don't know," Max admitted.
"Well, I don't want to talk about this anymore," Zan declared.
Max tried to stay calm and measured in his tone, despite hearing another comment that didn't sit well. Underneath Max's measured exterior it bothered him that Zan acted so uncooperative during this conversation. Max wanted to see him express concern over learning the true identity of Nicholas and to express trust and confidence in Ava seeing as they appeared to have a strong relationship. Zan also seemed genuinely interested in encountering Max just last night, but now he appeared more guarded and less curious about what Max could teach Zan about his alien lineage. Max also didn't like that Zan seemed to maintain a trust in Nicholas, despite what he and Ava shared about him.
"Ok, fine," Max said, unable to completely mask his frustration for the first time, "then let's talk about your pal Nicholas some more. He wanted to take you to meet other aliens today. Did he tell you where you could meet them?"
"No," Zan replied with spunk, "I wasn't going to find that out until we met up today, which is when you two came busting in."
"You ought to be glad we showed up when we did," Ava said, lifting her head off her knees.
"So you could protect me," Zan sneered at her, "From what? The truth? Maybe I'd be better off if Nicky and I'd gone off before you two ever showed up."
Zan rose again and this time looked at Max who just winced slightly and looked down, which signaled to Zan he could leave this time. He walked across the living room and out the exit to the outside on his right, just before the stairs leading up to the bedroom. He slammed the door on his way out.
Max looked across at Ava, who now buried her head in her knees as she started to softly weep. Max got up, walked over to the sofa and sat next to her. Sensing his presence, she looked up at him.
"Zan and I never fight like that," Ava told him, "never. He's the best thing that ever happened to me, what gave my life a purpose and meaning. And now…"
"These are the two craziest days of his life," Max reasoned. "It'd almost be stranger if he took it all in stride without any trouble. I can see that you've been a good mom to him and for that I'm truly grateful."
Ava looked up and smiled at him, with tears streaming down her face. Max knew most of her distress came from the shock of Zan keeping secrets and blowing up at her, but he recognized she also may have appreciated the validation from him that she raised Zan right. He reached out and put his arm around her shoulder to console her from the upsetting questioning of Zan.
Then, someone knocked twice on the door and abruptly opened it. It was Liz. She took a couple seconds to observe Max and Ava together. Max sensed this caused her pain and immediately let go of Ava and scooched a little bit away from her. He shared an unbreakable trust with Liz built over decades, but given how much Ava looked like Tess, the scene she walked into likely triggered a scar from when he and Tess were together.
"Michael's here," Liz announced.
Max got up and looked back at Ava, who didn't seem interested. Then he walked toward the exit and followed Liz outside.