Despite the late hour, Michael and everyone else in the group woke up within the last 20 minutes and now looked alert. They would hit the outer limits of Roswell in minutes. Their van just whizzed past the sign for the UFO Center that got defaced with the alien probe from the Skins that caused all the humans to disappear. Michael never returned to Roswell since graduation, so he found it a little comforting the same sign still stood all these years later.
Serena planned to drive them into Roswell, but moments ago she pulled over to let Max take them in himself. He simply explained that it felt right and no one seemed to mind. In the front of the van, Max drove, with Liz in the middle and Serena on the far passenger seat. In the back, Michael and the others sat on the floor. He sat on the left side, closest to front of the van with Isabel beside him to his right. Ava sat across from him with Zan beside her and across from Isabel.
During the four hour trip, Michael managed to sleep lightly for a while. Even though he felt antsy about what came next, he needed the rest. The use of his powers in battling Nicholas provided the physical drain to allow him to nod off at all. Closing in on Roswell under the cover of darkness, Michael felt on high alert in this moment. He anticipated another battle before they could secure the Granolith and leave Earth.
The notion that he may only stay on Earth long enough to see one last sunrise unsettled Michael. He wanted to stay focused on their mission and not become consumed by the prospect of leaving the planet. But how could he not think about it? He thought about Maria and how he probably would never see her again.
Michael believed the gift and note that he phoned in to deliver to Maria before heading to the Special Unit's base to get Liz turned out sweet and romantic. Even so, he knew it wouldn't fully satisfy Maria. What else could he do, though? He didn't want to leave. If he needed to return to Antar, of course he would prefer to say goodbye. Michael also didn't want to risk his family's safety and reuniting with them certainly would do just that. He couldn't guarantee that he could protect their young daughter, Amy. Maria might want to see Michael on her own and leave Amy with friends in Flagstaff, but if something happened to both of them, then that would leave their daughter an orphan.
"We'll see the lights from the city any minute now," Max announced. "Be ready for anything."
Michael turned toward Isabel. "Hard to believe, isn't it? That this could be our last night on Earth?"
Isabel looked like she also worried and stressed over what might happen after securing the Granolith.
"Michael, don't talk like that, ok?" Isabel replied.
Ava glanced at them nervously. Zan seemed calmer and almost fascinated. Michael nodded and looked down at the floor of the van.
Michael imagined what Maria would say if they discussed the prospect of all of them blasting off to Antar. He would explain how he had a duty to protect Earth from a steady stream of alien invasion forces and also the helpless citizens of Antar who they neglected to render aid to all these years. Maria would probably argue that Michael didn't need to do anything—that the choice lied with him.
However, the situation seemed more complicated than that. The Royal Four needed to stick together and Michael understood that. He heard Max's speech to Ava when they needed to hold on saving Zan to get Liz back first:
"We have to stick together to survive everything that's going on. I may not want to be king and you may not want to be queen, but that's what we have. If we don't want Kivar and the government to wipe out everything and everyone we love, then we can't just each go our own way. We can't keep pretending that the people we were back on Antar don't matter anymore. Like it or not we… We rose to power together. We stayed in power together. And the only way we lost power is by falling apart."
Max tailored the message to what Ava needed to hear in that moment. However it resonated with him too, even though the last part about rising, staying and losing power didn't ring any bells for Michael. If Max could leave Liz, if Isabel could leave Jesse and her two kids, if Ava could leave Zan, then how could Michael spoil everything by refusing to leave Maria and Amy?
Michael almost returned to Antar in high school with Max, Isabel and Tess, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Maria. They didn't think the whole Royal Four needed to go, so even before they learned of Tess's betrayal, Michael bowed out. During the few days when Maria knew he felt obligated to go and intended to do so, she felt sad, but understood and supported him.
This time Michael expected Maria would react differently. Their lives became much more intertwined over the past 20 years. If he couldn't leave his girlfriend behind back then, how could she understand him leaving his wife behind? Not to mention Amy, the daughter he loved like his own and truly looked forward to raising and seeing grow up.
Michael suspected Maria would bring all of this up if she tagged along, and he didn't know how he could discuss it with her without completely breaking her heart. In some ways, he longed to see her one last time, but for these reasons, he tried to convince himself no dramatic farewell may prove easier for both of them. Maria might feel concerned and confused by Michael's vague goodbye note, but she wouldn't feel the burden of knowing the detailed truth. Liz would surely reconnect with her after they left Earth and give Maria the full story. Those two would need each other for support.
Shaking his head and smiling, Michael knew he kidded himself. Maria would react furiously when she learned he left Earth and didn't even see her one last time. He could only hope that she wouldn't resent him forever for it.
"What's this?" Max asked aloud.
Michael quickly repositioned to a crouch and peered over Max's shoulder through the windshield as Max pumped the brakes. Michael saw lights from multiple police cars ahead in an apparent road block just outside the city.
"What's going on?" Michael asked.
"I don't know," Max replied, sounding concerned.
"I think we're about to find out," Liz stated the obvious.
As the van came to a stop, two police SUVs positioned sideways along the road met in the center to barricade oncoming traffic. They setup flood lights along the side of the road to provide additional light in the area. The silhouette of a police officer in the classic cowboy deputy's hat started heading toward them. Michael crouched down below the seat and signaled for Isabel, Ava and Zan to do the same, since they all crept up to get a look at the situation too. He thought it would look suspicious for all of them to peer in when the officer arrived to talk to Max.
Michael heard the sound of the driver's side power window rolling down.
"Good evening, sir," a female voice spoke, "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you're going to have to turn back."
"I'm sorry officer…" Max started.
"Lindall," the woman replied.
"Officer Lindall, we're not just passing through. Roswell is our destination. Is there any way you can clear us to get into town?" Max asked.
"No can do," Lindall replied. "Roswell's currently closed to locals only. There's… a security threat." She looked over her shoulder toward the police SUVs. "That's all I can say."
"But Officer Lindall, we're from Roswell," Liz said, leaning toward the driver side window. "I'm Liz, I'm the daughter of Jeff and Nancy Parker who run the Crashdown. I'm a Roswell native. And this is my husband, Max and our friend Serena."
"Well, the Crashdown Café is a Roswell staple," Lindall admitted, shining her flashlight into the van. Michael figured she wanted to get a better look at Liz, and he felt extra pressure to stay low and out of sight. "I don't recall seeing you around these parts before, though. And the Parkers never talk about other family."
Michael aimed his hand at the crack between the left side of the driver's side seat Max sat in and the door. He considered using his powers to cut off the blood flow to her brain for just a few seconds. While the move had the potential to be fatal if not executed properly, Michael could control his powers well enough subtly incapacitate someone without causing permanent brain damage. Once Lindall collapsed, he would urge Max to drive off-road past the police roadblock.
"Michael don't you dare," Isabel hissed with a hushed whisper in his ear as she brushed up against him. She got so close he could feel the warm breath from her mouth on his ear and neck.
"It's been a while since we've been able to visit," Liz admitted, "so you can imagine how disappointed they'll be if we're turned away. I know it's late, but if we can just call them, I…"
"No, I'm sorry," Lindall interrupted, sounding more forceful now, "but that just won't be possible. Roswell is closed to anyone who isn't a full time resident and there's nothing we can…"
"Just a minute, Deputy," a voice called out.
Michael immediately recognized it as Jim Valenti. He felt a rush of relief followed by a surge of confidence that Valenti could help them get past the police barricade.
When Valenti reached the van, he shined his flashlight into the car to get a look at Max, Liz and Serena.
"It's ok," Valenti said with a degree of casualness and a degree of authority, "I know these folks. We can go ahead and let them through."
"But Lieutenant, they don't live here," Lindall protested.
"I'm aware of that, Deputy," Valenti shot back, "but I can vouch for them personally. It's going to be all right."
"But Sheriff Hanson said…" Lindall started before being cut off.
"You let me worry about Hanson," Valenti insisted. "Now look, another vehicle's pulled up. Why don't you go explain the situation to them while I let these folks through? Go on."
As Lindall moved off, Valenti perched his elbows at the base of the driver's side window. He leaned into the vehicle a bit and talked with Max and Liz in softer, more discreet voices.
"It's good to see you, Sheriff," Max started.
"Max, Liz, it's so nice to see you too," Valenti said.
"I wouldn't expect you to be pulling the night shift," Liz noted.
"Normally I wouldn't," Valenti admitted. "I got tipped off that it might be helpful for me to man this post tonight, so I volunteered. But I still don't know what brought you all back here."
"We need to get to the pod chamber as soon as possible," Max explained.
"That isn't a good idea, not tonight anyway," Valenti cautioned.
"Why?" Liz asked. "What exactly is going on here?"
"There's government agents all over Roswell," Valenti replied. "Of course they're not being forthcoming as to why, but if you're involved, there's a pretty good chance you want to staff off their radar."
"We've actually sort of made peace with the Special Unit," Liz shared.
"This is CIA mostly," Valenti said. "I don't think the FBI or Special Unit are involved much, so that's probably not going to help you. Tell you what, I'll let you through and you go straight to my house. I'm still in the same place. I'll join you as soon as I can and then I'll be able to get you to the pod chamber with no one noticing."
"Wait, when you say tipp…" Max started to ask the question Michael wondered too. Who tipped off Valenti to work tonight and for what reason?
Valenti suddenly stepped back from the van and shouted to someone near the police SUVs.
"Let's pull back so we can let this one through," Valenti yelled out.
Then, he leaned back into the van to speak to Max. "Now listen, you need to go straight to my house. No detours, no stops. You'll be safe there, and we can talk more when I'm able to join you. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Max replied simply.
Valenti stepped back again. The police SUV on the right side of the road backed up leaving space for Max to drive the van through and into Roswell. As Valenti waived him in, Max drove past the blockade and proceeded to Valenti's house as instructed.
Everyone filed out of the van upon pulling into Valenti's driveway. Michael met Max near the hood of the vehicle and they saw lights on inside the house.
Valenti wouldn't leave the lights on all night, which meant someone else was inside. Michael feared the CIA may sit inside waiting for them, though he noticed no signs of forced entry.
Ordinarily, Valenti would mention to expect a friendly face waiting at his house. However, he seemed distracted leading up to stepping back from Serena's van to coordinate allowing them into town. Could Kyle have reunited with Carmen and made his way back to Roswell already? That seemed unlikely.
Michael exchanged a look with Max who looked equally weary about what could lie in store for them inside the house. Their caution seemed to expand beyond them and hit Isabel, Ava, Zan, Liz and Serena like a wave. Suddenly, everyone appeared quite nervous.
"Probably should just go inside rather than stand around out here in the open like this," Max offered.
"Yeah," Michael agreed.
Max and Michael took the lead. Liz hovered just behind Max. Serena and Zan fell into step behind them with Ava and Isabel bringing up the rear. Michael felt good about the humans being surrounded by hybrids in case they walked into a violent confrontation inside Valenti's house.
They reached the door and Max grabbed the door handle with his left hand. He started to swing his right hand over too in case he needed to use his powers to unlock it. Instead he twisted the handle and cracked the door ever so slightly. Max's right hand fell back to his side. Michael recognized this meant the door was unlocked already, but he didn't know if that was better or worse.
Max took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. He stepped inside and Michael followed close behind. He sensed Liz on his heels but couldn't tell whether or not the rest of the group hung back or looked to file in after them.
Michael stepped inside the house and stood beside Max. They didn't see anyone.
"Hello?" Max called.
Footsteps from the hallway near the bedrooms swiftly made their way into the room. A figure emerged within the dark hallway heading toward the light of the entryway between the kitchen and living room.
"Maria," Michael said with an exhale of relief.
"Finally," Maria chirped as she picked up the pace and nearly broke out into a run toward him.
Michael smiled and Maria began squealing with giddy excitement. He felt excited to see her after everything he went through the past few days, but he didn't anticipate quite such a warm reaction from her.
When Maria got near him, Michael started to move up his arms to embrace her, but she whisked past him. Michael turned to see Maria crash into Liz's arms. The two began jumping up and down and exchanging platitudes of "It's been way too long" and "I missed you so much." They talked so fast and in such a high pitch that Michael could barely understand them.
"It's like I'm not even here," Michael remarked to Max.
Despite the exuberant greeting for Liz, Maria still managed to hear that comment. She broke away from Liz and circled back to him.
"And you," Maria started at him, "you thought you could just what? Go on some suicide mission and leave me with nothing but this?"
Maria pulled Michael's letter from her pocket and stuffed it into his chest. Michael reached down to grab it to prevent it from falling to the floor.
"I thought it was sweet," Michael said plainly.
Maria snatched the letter back from him as she quipped back, "It is sweet, Michael, but… it's like you reverted back 20 years. Did you really think this would be a proper farewell? No phone call, no one last night before the heroic battle."
Michael could tell that Maria felt more disappointed than angry. He knew she might very well feel this way, but since he didn't spell out that they intended to return to Roswell, he didn't expect Maria would pick up on that. Or that she would meet them here. He suddenly realized he probably should know better on both accounts.
"I was trying to be responsible," Michael argued with relative calm, "I didn't want to put you or… Wait a minute, where's…?"
"Amy?" Maria interrupted. "I dropped her off at Grandma DeLuca's. I didn't know what kind of shape I'd find you in when I caught up with you here."
Hearing Maria say their daughter's name out loud wiped away any doubts that this was truly Maria and not one of Kivar's shapeshifters. That's how Isabel tested him when he first arrived in El Quartelejo and it seemed nearly impossible that Kivar or any of his forces would know or care about Michael's daughter and her name.
"Good," Michael affirmed.
Maria looked at him like he should continue. Michael just shrugged.
Before she could scold him, the front door swung open once again. It turned out only Max and Liz followed Michael into Valenti's at first. Now Isabel, Ava, Zan and Serena piled into the house, as Michael and the others inched forward to make room.
"Isabel," Maria spotted her first and hugged her.
"And…" Maria recognized Ava as Tess.
"Oh, there's no way…" Maria gawked with a laugh to reflect her reaction of disbelief.
"It's not what you think," Ava quickly deflected, "I'm Ava."
"Oh, thank God," Maria exhaled with relief, dramatically moving her right hand up to her heart.
Next, Maria made eye contact with Zan. While she didn't recognize him at first, after a few seconds she instinctively looked back for Max who made his way over to them. Michael always admired Maria's keen instincts for this sort of thing, and she seemed to spot a resemblance to Max in Zan.
"Maria, meet my son, Zan," Max said.
"Well, now this is a surprise," Maria exclaimed as she shook Zan's hand. "How exciting for you to have found him after all these years."
Before yet another awkward moment could erupt, Liz stepped in. "And this is Serena, a new friend."
"Hi ther…" Maria paused and her mouth flung open. She turned back toward Liz. "Wait. A. Minute. Serena? As in the Serena that you were destined to meet and befriend according to Future Max?"
Serena, Zan and Ava looked caught off guard by how flippantly Maria blurted that out. Michael fought to hide a smile.
"Actually 'Future Max' was from a timeline that was never created," Liz corrected, "but he was from 2014, so that would actually be our past now. Anyway, yes, I believe it's the same Serena I formed a friendship with in that alternate timeline."
"Ok," Maria said with a sigh. "This is becoming a lot to take in and no one's even told me about all the trouble you got yourselves into yet. Liz, come, you've got to get me up to speed!"
Maria locked arms with Liz and they receded to the far corner of the living room. Michael smiled warmly and felt happy for Maria to reunite with her best friend. He glanced over at Max and caught Max cracking a smile too.
Then, the front door swung open once more and Valenti stepped inside.
"I see you met up with my house guest," Valenti observed cooly.
"Sheriff, I'm glad your back," Max greeted Valenti warmly.
"Sorry I didn't have a chance to give you more of a head's up," Valenti acknowledged. "I didn't want to draw any suspicion to you all by talking too long at the checkpoint back there. Maria drove into town just hours before the government agents arrived to lock everything down. She knew you all were on your way based on the note Michael delivered to her and encouraged me to man the checkpoint tonight so I could get you all into town."
"You said it was CIA leading the government presence?" Max asked.
"That's right," Valenti confirmed. "They seem to be looking for something… or someone."
"The Granolith?" Michael asked.
"Or one of Kivar's shapeshifters replaced the CIA's leader and they're looking for us," Isabel speculated.
"Oh boy," Valenti started, "it's been a while since I've had to work the graveyard shift, so I was drinking coffee tonight." He raised and shook a stainless steel coffee mug he brought in with him. "But now I'm thinking I might need to grab a beer."
Everyone chuckled at the joke except for Zan, who looked awkward.
"We have a lot catch you up on, Sheriff," Max explained.
"So I know you were the Sheriff," Serena jumped in, "but just to be clear, that's a lieutenant's uniform if I'm not mistaken."
"That's true," Valenti confirmed.
"Old habits," Max said with a shrug.
"In the car, you seemed confident that we'd be safe here once we reached your house," Michael prompted.
"Yeah, absolutely," Valenti stated confidently. "Once I rejoined the force, I've been a model officer. There's no signs there are any searches of personal residences yet. Even if they start doing that, I'm one of the last people that will draw suspicion. They're coordinating carefully with Sheriff Hanson, so he'd vouch for me with the CIA."
"Oh, good," Isabel said.
Knock, knock, knock.
Michael instinctively raised his right hand slightly toward the front door. Max shot an alarmed stare over at the door too.
"Maybe we spoke too soon," Michael pessimistically speculated.
"Expecting someone, Sheriff?" Max asked cautiously.
"Actually, yeah," Valenti replied. "I thought you all might be hungry. I ordered some pizzas as soon as I started heading home. Don't worry, I noticed you had company in the back of the van, and there should be plenty for everyone."
Michael and the others all moved deeper into Valenti's living room and kitchen. Valenti answered the door, paid for the pizzas and brought them inside. They shared some more details with Valenti, just as Liz had updated Maria. However, after that, the rest of the dinner conversation focused more on just general catching up with those who didn't see the rest of the group in years. Ava and Zan seemed content to silently snuggle up together after Zan's traumatic capture. Serena silently observed and listened to the conversation carefully.
For Michael's part, he didn't love the idea of waiting too long to go after the Granolith. On the other hand, he trusted Valenti and decided to give it some time before pushing anyone to press on with their mission.
For dinner, Max and Michael visited with Valenti at the living room couch. Maria and Liz sat at the dining room table. Michael wondered if Liz caught Maria up on Larek's insistence that the Royal Four must return to Antar. He worried a little about how that conversation would go and when they would get the chance to talk. Michael wished that he could stay on Earth long enough to get through the difficult conversation with Maria and then their last interaction could occur on the best terms.
Michael also felt unsettled knowing his daughter was in a town overrun with government agents and possibly alien warriors, too. Part of him wanted to bring Amy to Valenti's, or go to Maria's mom's house to stay there. However, he also knew he couldn't exactly take her to the pod chamber. Whatever the CIA's goal in Roswell might be, Michael expected they likely targeted either the alien hybrids or the Granolith. It didn't feel good to let Amy stay on the other side of town, but, in reality, getting closer to Michael likely compromised her safety more than anything else.
As the night wore on, Michael increasingly got the feeling that they experienced a moment of calm before the storm. Therefore the notion of spending the night at Valenti's became less unappealing. Given how everything unfolded so far, Michael anticipated a myriad of challenges in getting to the pod chamber, finding the Granolith and keeping it secure.