Chapter 10

Diane moved back and forth from the kitchen and the table, setting the dishes out, Max and Liz were sitting next to each other, talking in low tones before Max moved down to kiss her, gently, on the lips. Liz giggles against his lips as they pulled apart, Diane watched as Isabel rolled her eyes in disgust before turning back to face her mother.

"Need any help?" she asked. "I'm sure Max will be able to help you if he ever tears himself away from Liz." She shot Max a loathing look. Max and Liz turned to face her, both expressionless.

"Maybe if you lighten up you could get a move on in your life," Max shot her, causing Liz to take his hand and look up at him, he looked down at her and Diane watched as they had a conversation with their eyes before Max looked up at his mother, calm. "Do you need any help?" he asked and Diane smiled.

"No honey, I'm fine, all we need is Phillip to come through," Diane informed him as she called out Phillip's name, not getting answer, she left the kitchen in search of her husband and Max looked at his plate in disgust.

"We should have never gotten her that subscription," he stated and Liz laughed.

"Max, it can't be that bad," she informed him before taking a bite of her meal before swallowing it and nodded. "Okay, maybe it can," she told him before shaking her head. "Too much salt."

Max laughed as he kissed the side of her head before getting up and moving over to the fridge; he grabbed the bottle of orange juice and three glasses.

"So, how is Alex?" Isabel asked as Max filled out the juice and Liz looked at her.

"Fine, he is having a great time with Sarah," Liz stated as Max moved closer and handed her glass while sitting Isabel's on the table.

"She makes him laugh," Max stated and Liz laughed.

"The pair of them just like joking around," she told him and Diane came back through.

"Sorry, your father must have slipped out without telling me," she informed them as she moved back into the kitchen; she picked up the tray when all of a sudden there was a clatter.

Max, Liz and Isabel looked up to see the tray that Diane picked up was now lying on the ground and Diane nowhere in sight.

"Oh god," Liz whispered.

"What the hell had just happened?" Max demanded; Isabel ran through the back of the house, looking for her dad while Max and Liz hurried out side.

Isabel came back into the kitchen just as Max and Liz made their way back. "There's no one here, the neighbours have gone," Max informed and Liz sighed.

"Lets head over to the Crashdown, there's must be someone here," she informed them as they left.

They were making their way down the street when Liz tripped over something; she was about to get up when something caught her eyes. "Oh my god," Liz whispered, Max and Isabel looked at her from where she was kneeling, she picked up a piece of skin and it crumbled in her hand. Max grabbed Liz's arm and hauled her up.

"Get to the Crashdown," he ordered them and they all hurried over to the Crashdown. Michael, Courtney and Tess were already there; Liz brushed past everyone and ran up the stairs just to see if her parents were there.

"Where is everyone?" Tess asked.

"Looks like all the humans are disappearing," Courtney stated then Liz stepped into the Crashdown.

"My parents are not up there," she informed them and Courtney looked at her.

"She's human," Courtney stated in a questioning tone and Max nodded.

"Yeah, why?" he asked and she shook her head.

"Was she with you when everyone else disappeared?" Courtney asked and Max nodded.

"Yeah, we were at my parents' house, what is this about?" he asked.

"Listen, whatever is happening, it targeted all the humans, Maria was out of town when this happen so she slipped through a window, Liz is human yet she is still here, even being in town during it happened," Courtney stated and everyone looked at Liz, who held up her hands.

"Whoa, before we even go anywhere near that road, shouldn't we try and find out how to get everyone back?" Liz asked. "Even though I'm a girl, doesn't mean I can handle more than one major thing at the same time, let just focus on the main thing at the moment, which is trying to find how to get the humans back," Liz informed them.

"Do that later, right now, we gotta hide," Isabel stated from where she was looking out of the window and everyone hurried over to the bathroom, Tess shut the door behind her when she stepped in and Isabel leaned in. "There's two of them," she whispered and Tess closed her eyes.

"Check in the back," Nicholas stated as he and Ida stepped into the Crashdown, she made her way into the backroom while Nicholas walked over to where the bathroom door used to be.

"Oh, please don't let me die like Elvis," Maria muttered under her breath while Liz rested her forehead on Max's back, all of them praying it was going to work. Nicholas moved closer to the wall and tapped the mirror that Tess created for him to see. "Mom!" Nicholas shouted as he picked at his skin that was shredding.

"Don't pick." She hit his hand away from his face. "There's nobody back there or upstairs, sir," she informed him and he nodded to the mirror.

"Look in the mirror. You're shedding," He told her and she looked into the mirror before frowning.

"Ohh...it's the heat. Why couldn't those brats be from Seattle?" she demanded as she touched her face and Nicholas shook his head.

"Let's get you back to the moisture chamber. This haphazard searching is going nowhere," he informed her and she nodded.

"What's plan "B"?" Ida asked.

"We'll search the town...street by street, building by building, inch by inch. I'm not stopping till we find them," he told her as they both left.

The gang waited for a few more minutes before they came out of the bathroom, Tess made her way over to the counter and slumped down on the chair.

"Felt like someone took a hammer to my head," she told them as she looked at Max from the corner of her eye, hoping he would get the hint but he didn't pick up on it.

"We need to get up to a higher ground so we can see who's coming and who's not," he informed them and they nodded.

The door slammed open once more and the aliens brought up their hands only to see Jim and Kyle standing with their hands in the air.

"Whoa!" Kyle exclaimed, causing everyone to sigh in relief as they dropped their guards. "What the hell is happening here?" Kyle demanded.

"Let's go up the stairs, we're bound to be safe here as they've already searched but we're gonna have to move on," Max informed them and they nodded as they followed him up the stairs.

"How do we kill them?" Jim asked after everyone finished and Courtney turned to face him.

"Take the heaviest thing that you can find...and smash this as hard as you can." She turned around and lifted up a piece of skin, revealing what looked like a bolt in the middle of her back. "It breaks the seal in the husk...permanently," she explained.

"What about Nicholas? What can he do?" Isabel asked.

"All the things you can...times a thousand. But the thing you should be the most afraid of...is this," she told them as she pointed to her head. "He can get inside of your head and take anything that he wants. Basically, he rapes you of your memories and your thoughts," she informed and Jim looked at Max.

"We've gotta get everybody to a safer location," he told him and he nodded.

"The UFO centre. It's a former bomb shelter. There are no windows and fewer ways in and out. After we get everyone situated, you, Michael, Kyle, Isabel, Tess, and me will start picking them off one by one," he told them and they all nodded as they left the Crashdown.

They found themselves in the alley, just across from the UFO Centre and looked around. "There's not much cover, so we should split up into groups," Max stated.

"Good idea," Liz whispered and Max looked at her.

"You ok?" he asked and she smiled.

"Yeah," she told him and Jim jumped into the conversation.

"Michael, Kyle, take Courtney. You guys go first," Jim stated and Max turned to them.

"When you're in, we'll send the next bunch," he informed them they nodded as they moved closer to the edge.

"All right, go," Jim stated and they watched as Michael and Kyle helped Courtney over to the Centre and Michael used his powers to open the door before slipping in.

"I'll take Tess, Liz, and Maria. You two OK bringing' up the rear? Jim asked and Max nodded as Liz, Tess and Maria moved closer to him. "Ready?" Jim asked.

"Ok," Tess stated and the girls moved with Mr. Valenti. Max turned back to face Isabel.

"We're gonna be ok," Max promised.

"Max, if I ask you to do something, will you just do it, no questions asked?" she asked and Max looked at it.

"Depending on what it is," he informed her and she nodded.

"You go. Make sure everyone else is safe. I'm gonna find Nicholas," Isabel told him and Max shook his head.

"No," he told her and she shook her head.

"Max...you don't understand. He's after me," Isabel protested and Max shook his head.

"Why, Isabel? What really happened in Arizona? We're stronger together than we are apart," he reminded and Isabel sighed.

"You're right. I'm sorry," she told him and Max shook his head once more.

"Don't worry about it. I'm gonna make sure it's safe. And then we're up. Ok. The coast is clear. You go ahead, and I'll follow you. Ready?" he asked as he looked over the Centre before turning around to see that Isabel had slipped away. He blew out a frustrated breath before looking for her.

Isabel walked over to the bus, a remote-control car ran over to her and Nicholas stepped out from behind the bus.

"Boo," he stated and she just looked at him.

Max made his way into the Crashdown Centre and Tess moved over to him.

"Did you find her?" Tess asked and Max shook his head, Tess shook her head too.

"What is it with her disappearing when it comes to our enemies?" she demanded before leaving, wondering what she was going to do.

Max made his way into the computer room where Kyle and Liz were looking at the computer.

"I can't call out of town," Kyle informed as he put the phone down while Liz looked at the screen.

"Kyle. Do you see this jump on the graph? There was some sort of, like, electric disturbance that levelled off here," Liz stated as she pointed it and Kyle moved in closer to where her finger was.

"When?" he asked and she looked at the time.

"Um...10:30 this morning," she informed and he thought about it and nodded.

"Right about when everyone went poof," Kyle pointed out and Liz nodded.

"Kyle, if the energy field was turned on..." Liz trailed off.

"Maybe it can be turned off," Kyle finished and they both looked at each other, thinking about it.

"Exactly. I mean; we just need to find the source. If we can shut it off, maybe we can bring everyone back," Liz explained and Kyle nodded as he looked at the computer when Liz caught sight of Max. "Kyle, could you excuse us for a minute?" Liz asked and Kyle looked up to see Max and he nodded.

"Sure, I'll let everyone else know what we found out," he told them and Max nodded as he moved closer to Liz and noticed the same things that Liz found out.

Liz stood up and moved closer to Max.

"Max…" Liz called out and Max looked at her.

"Yeah?" he asked and she smiled sadly.

"I love you," she told him and Max's eyes widen in understanding when all of a sudden she started to fade before his eyes.

"NO!" he shouted as he ran over to her and grabbed her only for his hands to pass through her body and she vanished from his sight. "Liz?" he shouted as he looked around the room, hoping that it was all just a sick joke from his mind but when she didn't show up, it hit him. The window caught up with her. "LIZ!" Max shouted as he slumped to his knees, his hands holding his head. "Liz," he whispered once more.

Max finally got himself up and moved out into the main room where he saw everyone was standing about.

"We need to get to the school, its our turf," Michael stated and everyone nodded.

"Get Liz and we'll get a move on," Tess stated as she looked at Max.

"I can't," he told them and they looked at him.

"What?" Maria asked.

"She's gone, she vanish right in front of me," Max explained as he lifted his hands, looking like a lost little boy.

"The window must be catching up with who's not human," Jim informed them and Kyle nodded.

"So what do we do?" he asked as he looked around when his eye caught sight of a post card, he hurried over to it and plucked it from the rack. "This sign, it had a rod through it when Dad and I came back in Roswell, at first we thought it was a joke but…"

"What if that's the trigger?" Jim finished and Kyle nodded and Max nodded.

"Okay, go through Bradford Alley, it's not boxed in," Max told him and Kyle nodded.

"No problem," Kyle stated before moving over to Max and clasped his shoulder, Max looked at him. "We're gonna get Liz and everyone else back, I promise," he told him and Max nodded, grateful hope shining through his eyes, Kyle nodded once more before he and Jim hurried up the stairs, they stopped when they saw Maria walking over to Max, she hugged him.

"Liz will be fine," she whispered and Max nodded as he hugged her back.

"Come back safe, I have a feeling James will kick my ass if he ever finds out I lost you two girls," he informed her and Maria laughed as tears came to her eyes before she pulled away and hurried over to Kyle, the three of them left.

"Ok. It's the four of us on foot. If we stick to the side streets, we can..." Michael started but he noticed that Max started looking around, Tess looked at Max.

"What's wrong?" Tess asked and Max turned to face them.

"Where's Courtney?" Max asked and Tess started looking around too but came up short.

"Push the pedal Kyle," Maria stated from her seat in the back, Kyle nodded as he pressed down on the pedal and she sat back before sitting forward. "Do you really think that we'll be okay?" she asked and Jim turned to face her.

"Yes, I refused to believe that it's over, if it was that easy to wipe out us human in the first place, why didn't they just do it when they first landed?" Jim asked. "We break this trigger and Roswell will go back to normal," he promised and Maria nodded when he disappeared.

"Oh god," Maria whispered as she and Kyle both looked at the seat where Mr. Valenti used to occupied and Kyle nodded before turning back to the front.

"We're gonna be okay," Kyle stated but pressed his foot down harder just be on the safe side.

"You sure you don't know where Courtney went?" Max asked as he led the way to the school.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Michael stated and Tess moved closer to them.

"I've got one. She and Nicholas are probably laughing at how gullible we are," Tess informed them when Isabel came into view; she was slumped against the lockers, her eyes closed.

"Isabel. Isabel," Max called as he moved closer to her, he knelt down beside her when there was a cough behind them.

"Ahem!" they turned around and saw that there were surrounded by the skins.

Max, Michael, Tess and Isabel found themselves tied to pillars that the skins created to hold them. Nicholas walked back and forth in front of Max.

"What happened to you, guy? You used to determine the fate of entire armies with the flip of a coin. Luckily for me, you continue to put your faith in the wrong people. Does this scene feel familiar, Vilandra?" Nicholas asked as he looked at Isabel, Max looked at her, wondering what Nicholas was taking about. "And your trusted second...the boy who spilled the secret of the granolith to one of our exiled members. Rule number one of war: keep your big mouth shut. Courtney knew that," Nicholas informed and Max's head spun around to look at Michael, stunned. "That's why she killed herself before I could get its exact location," Nicholas stated and Michael shook his head. "By the way, love the hair. Hope you win. There's one more thing I need to know before we can all call it a day. Where's the granolith?" Nicholas stated as he turned back to Max.

"I'm not telling you," Max informed him and Nicholas smirked.

"Oh...you will," Nicholas informed him before lifting up his hand; Michael, Isabel and Tess started screaming in pain.

"Wait! I'll take you there! Just you and me. This has nothing to do with them," Max bargained.

"Max, don't," Isabel, pleaded.

"This is too easy. In the old days, I would've been no match for you. But...now..." Nicholas grabbed Max's head once more and started draining his memory, leaving Max groaning in pain as he tried to repel Nicholas. "Either way, you're going to die, Max. So why don't you just make this easy on yourself?" Nicholas asked.

"Argh!" Max shouted as an image of Liz came into mind everyone felt the air stirring before a body appeared.

"Argh!" Liz screamed as she fell to the ground out of nowhere, she landed on the ground with a sickening thud.

"Liz!" Max shouted as he fought at his ropes and Nicholas smirked.

"Well, well, well, this must be the young human that my family told me about, the one who strengthened your shield," Nicholas stated as he moved closer to Liz and brushed her hair out of face and nodded in approval. "She really looks great," he stated with a leer as he looked at Max, who got the hint.

"Don't touch her!" Max shouted. Liz awoke with a gasp, her eyes snapped up to look at Max.

"Max," she whispered and he locked eyes with his, his love for her shining through his eyes.

"Tender moment over," Nicholas stated before snapping his fingers and ropes bonded themselves around Liz's body, holding her hostage before he turned back to Max with a smirk. "Ready to tell me now?" he asked before placing his hand on Max's head and went through his memories, pain shot through, both, Max and Liz.

"No!" Liz screamed, she could feel everything Max was going through and it was tearing her apart. "Leave him alone!" she shouted.

"Shut up!" Nicolas shouted as he backhanded her, causing her face to snap to the side, a red mark appearing on her cheek.

"Liz!" Max shouted.

"Shut it or I'll kill her," Nicolas promised.

"Ignore him, don't tell him where the granolith is," Liz begged as she looked at Max, he could see the pain in her tired eyes and Nicolas grabbed her by her throat and lifted her up, choking her.

"Oh, he will, unless he wants to see his whore dead," Nicolas hissed and Liz looked at him, drawing powers from the pod squad.

"Go to hell," Liz whispered out and all of a sudden flames shot out from everywhere, enveloping everyone in the fire.

The gang could hear the skins screaming as they fell free from the ropes. Once the fire died away, they found themselves in a shower of skin and there was a slight humming noise as they turned to look and saw the cleaning pushing the cleaning cart and they sighed with relief as they realised that everyone was back to normal.

Max hurried over to Liz, who was lying on the ground, he waved his hand over her cheek, healing her mark before lifting her still, but warm, body into his arms and looked at the gang.

"Let's go home," he told them and they nodded as they walked out of the school and over to the jeep.

Once they were settled in the jeep and moving away from the school, Tess and Michael turned to face Max, who had Liz in his lap, who's face was in his neck while Isabel looked into the rear-view mirror to look at her brother.

"How the hell did she do that?" Tess asked and Max looked at her. "She drew powers from us Max, how can a human do that?" she asked and Max shook his head as he stroke Liz's hair back.

"Liz isn't normal, she's been able to do these things ever since I healed her, I guess its due to me healing her," he admitted before shifting Liz slightly so her head was resting on his shoulder. There was no way he going to tell them his suspicions, they were only theories and he needed proof before he could even go to Liz with them.

Isabel pulled up inside the alley behind the Crashdown and Max climbed out of the Jeep. "I'll be back in a minute," he told them before sneaking up the stairs, he knew that her parents were out of town at the moment and hurried into Liz's bedroom, he undressed her. He grabbed a t-shirt and pulled it over her body only to stop when he recognised the t-shirt, he had one missing that looked like that, he arched an eyebrow when he remembered that Liz packed their bags just before they came back to Roswell before shaking his head and slid her under the covers.

He pulled the covers over her body before grabbing a piece of paper and a pen; he scribbled something down for a couple of minutes before folding it and placing it on the bedside cabinet. He bent down and kissed her cheek before tucking her in then leaving the bedroom and locked the front door on the way out.

He hurried over to the Jeep and climbed back in. Isabel set the jeep into motion and they drove out to the Pod Chamber, they climbed out and made their way over to the door, Max used his powers to open it and they climbed through before making their way over to the Granolith and looked at it.

"So you think Liz is getting powers because you healed her?" Isabel asked and Max shrugged.

"Looks like it but I can't be too sure because I've never healed anyone else," Max told her and Michael nodded.

"So, it looks like we may have another mystery on our hands," Michael stated and the four of them looked at each other before looking at the Granolith, wondering what was going to happen next.

TBC

Sorry, I took so long, it my birthday then I had a day out and it didn't help that I ended up spraining my wrist, god only knows how I did that.