Chapter Two: No More Running

"He's going to find us."

Michael's eyes met Kyle's across the kitchen table and he took a deep breath. "I know that. It's only a matter of time."

Michael compressed the urge to hit something. It had been a week since Valenti's phone call to Kyle. Michael and Kyle had been on the edge bordering insane. They would check every corner and close every window and door. But Max had not shown up.

Liz, on the other hand, was the only one with the right mind set. She wanted Max to find them. Liz felt that she was sick and tired of running from him. Michael was scared shitless.

"Dammit!" Michael screamed in frustration and he thrust his face into his hands. "I just keep thinking that there was something I could have done to prevent this. Maybe if we had thought our plan through more or-"

"You can't think like that," Kyle gently scolded him. "You have a family now and a wife. You live in a house in a *normal* neighborhood free of any impending danger. It's not that I'm not with you on this one. I don't want to see Max anymore then you do."

"It's not the same, Kyle. You hate Max."

"I don't hate him," Kyle lied. Michael raised a questioning eyebrow. "OK, maybe just a little bit."

Michael barely cracked a smile and Kyle frowned. "Look, man, she's isn't going to leave you for him."

"I know that," Michael bristled too quickly. "I do."

Kyle opened his mouth to speak again but Michael's death glare stopped him. "Alright, maybe it was a shot in the dark," Kyle conceded raising his hands in surrender. "All I'm saying is that Liz has the right idea about all of this. Max was apart of our lives during a time that we'd all rather forget and no one is happy to see him enter this one. But that doesn't change the fact that shaking in our hybrid boots is going to help anything. Sounds to me like Liz has dealt with her Max issues but *somebody* else hasn't."

"You say that as if I'm the only one with unresolved issues," Michael replied smartly.

"Oh please, Michael, I'm very resolved in my Max issues."

"Not those issues," Michael prodded. "I haven't seen you talk to that Buddha thing in years, Kyle. I almost miss your annoying optimistic backwards comments."

Michael kept a light smile on his face to make it sound like a joke. Kyle, like him, could be very closed off at times. He hardly talked about Isabel or his sudden misplacement of his once coveted religion. Michael wouldn't dare to forwardly ask Kyle about it because then he'd close like a clam.

Michael knew that Max, to Kyle, was a stark reminder of those past years. He knew that Kyle wanted to forget and move on; the idea of seeing Max again wasn't easy for Kyle either.

"I'm not the same guy I was when I was seventeen, my friend," Kyle almost hissed out. "I've changed."

"For the worse, Kyle, *and* for the better. You have to give yourself credit for that."

"I'm an alcoholic at the ripe age of twenty-four, what's there to be proud about?"

"You've been sober for six months now, Kyle. That's something that few people can do," Michael argued. He wasn't just going to stand there and let Kyle berate himself.

Kyle stood up quickly and slammed his hands on the table. "I get that, dammit! Buddhism, to me, used to be about having something stable. It helped me deal with finding out aliens truly existed and everything *up* until that point that I got into that van. Somewhere I lost that optimism and Buddha stopped talking to *me*."

"I think, Kyle, that we all lost ourselves out there," Michael said gently.

Kyle frowned and shook his head. "I know that. I just don't think I've found myself yet."

Their short but emotional conversation settled in both of them. It was good enough for now.

"Daddy," Bella's voice rang throughout the house.

Michael's entire face brightened noticeably and he got up from his seat. "Coming, Bella Bear. Is Mommy trying to give you a bath again?"

The sound of small footsteps coming down the stairs reached their ears. Bella stopped running once she got to the bottom steps, saw her daddy, and ran behind his leg. Her small hands tugged on his pants. "You have to hide me, Daddy."

"Why?"

Bella looked up at him and stuck her bottom lip out. "Because Mommy says that I'm dirty and I'm trying to hide. Please," she whined. Michael pushed his daughter behind him and made a shushing noise. Liz was coming downstairs.

Kyle stood next to Michael so Bella couldn't be seen. "Don't worry, kiddo. Your daddy doesn't like to shower either."

Michael sent him a dirty look just when Liz reached the bottom step. "Bella won't take a bath," she said, pushing her hair behind her ear. "Have either of you seen her?"

Both men shook their heads guiltily and Liz narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "So you're telling me that my daughter just disappeared into thin air," she sighed in disbelief. Small giggled erupted from behind Michael and Liz smiled, beginning to name off places Bella could be hiding. Michael held in his laughter and continued to pretend to not know where Bella was.

Kyle, however, was in his own zone. The exchange between Michael and him left a bitter taste in his mouth. He didn't think that he could find himself at all. Maybe he had changed too much to a point of no return. Michael, had been right, though. Everyone who got in that van somehow lost themselves and began to fall. Only problem was Kyle had nothing to hold to and no one had noticed he was falling far quicker than everyone else. Watching how happy Michael, Liz, and Bella were right now, made his heart hurt. He wanted that; a family of his own.

Kyle couldn't dig up the courage to speak in depth about his experiences with his father. Valenti expected great things of his son and rightfully so. Kyle, however, didn't feel like he deserved that faith and didn't deny that things between him and his father had been distant.

He closed his eyes tightly as a vision of a blonde haired child ran through his head. No, he thought to himself. Don't go there. Luckily his cell phone rung, taking him out of his train of thought.

"Hello?"

"Kyle, Maria just called me from her mother's," was his father's reply. Kyle pointed a look at Michael and mouthed 'Max' to him. Michael drew his daughter out from behind him.

"Bella, honey, why don't you go upstairs and I'll convince Mommy to not give you a bath," he cooed. Bella nodded excitedly and run upstairs blurting out a hurried, "Thanks, Daddy!"

"Kyle, you still there?" Valenti asked.

"Yeah," Kyle mumbled, gesturing for Michael and Liz to come closer.

"Max is going to California to find Cal Langley. Do you remember him?"

"His protector, right?"

"Yes, him. Maria said that Max called her a couple days and told her this. He hasn't talked to her since and she thinks he may have found him. Kyle, this isn't good."

Kyle clenched his teeth and cursed Max's determination. "Cal hates him, Dad. He isn't going to give him any information."

"But Max can order him to. Then Max will have a shape shifter looking for you guys as well as him. Cal has resources and ways to find you."

Valenti then told Kyle he'd call him if anything new happened and hung up. Kyle slowly looked at the couple in front of him. "He's going to Cal Langley for help."

"Cal won't help him," Michael said.

"He won't *want* to but he will. We both know that."

Kyle caught the look between Liz and Michael of impending doom. He let out a heavy sigh as it dawned on him.

Liz took a deep breath. "Cal hates Max. It doesn't take a genius to see that. If he can't physically hurt him, then he'll take anything he can get."

****Hollywood, CA.****

"Did you really think that you could get away with this?" Cal asked the two people in front of him. "Did you think that I wouldn't find out?"

His two interns looked at their hands guiltily. Lisa opened her mouth to speak but Cal held up a hand to stop her. "Don't. You disgust me. Get out of my sight. Damn kids put my coffee in the green mug instead of the red one!" he bellowed. They scurried out and Cal laughed at their stupidity.

His office was huge with designer everything in it. Grudgingly, he picked up the coffee mug and sipped the coffee. "I can't taste the shit, anyway," he mumbled to himself. He only had one person to blame that on. Before his thoughts could drift, his mind sensed an unearthly presence. It was in his coding to be able to tell when one of his charges were near.

Cal's hair rose and his rage couldn't help but boil to the surface. The coffee in his hands quickly turned to ice at the change in Cal's emotions. When Cal raised his head, Max Evans was standing in front of him. Cal's hands itched to throw the hard cup at Max's skull.

"I need your help and then I'll leave," Max said immediately.

Cal feigned indifference and replied coolly, "I'm not here to clean up your messes, your Majesty. You wouldn't happen to have any more illegitimate children you need to find do you? Just a word of advice, Max-keep your dick in your pants."

"This doesn't concern my son," Max spat out.

Cal flattened his palms on his desk and regarded Max with a cold look. "What do you need?" he asked, eager to get Max out of here.

"Information on a fire that took place about five years ago and the location of the Special Unit," Max answered simply. "Then I'll be gone for good."

Cal, not being able to resist the opportunity to stick it to Max, smirked at him. "No can do."

"What?" Max roared. "You are going to help me. Tell me-"

Cal stopped Max mid-command, his eyes burning with fire. "I'm not your fucking 411, got it? The Special Unit doesn't exist anymore."

"You're lying to me."

"You want to hear a story, kid? Sit down and listen."

Max hesitantly sat down in the chair across the desk and folded his arms across his chest. "I'm listening."

Cal leaned forward. "You would think you'd know all of this. Don't tell me you've been running from an imaginary enemy."

Max was shocked that Cal knew so much when he had practically told him he wanted nothing to do with him. Cal, reading Max's reaction, continued. "It's no secret that I don't like you but that doesn't mean I don't check on you every once in a while. Tell me if I'm telling the story wrong and please feel free to add your own bullshit. About seven years ago, the FBI paid a surprise visit to Roswell High's graduation and shot up the place. You and your little friends tucked your tails between your legs and drove as far as you could get. The funny thing is Max," Cal laughed, as he got up and stood in front of Max. "The Special Unit wasn't even looking for you. You see, they had your destined wife in custody and were drilling her for information. That whole time, they were looking for your son and could care less about you. The FBI was looking for you but the Special Unit wanted Zan."

Max's face was paper white with rage. "Why didn't you tell me this? They were after my *son* and you forget to tell me?"

"How could have I contacted you? I'm your protector, not the kid's goddamn babysitter!" Cal yelled even though his words were lies. He was bound to protect the kid just as much as he was to protect Max. But Max didn't need to know that.

"Is he alright? They didn't get him, did they?"

Cal scratched his eyebrow, unsure of how to tell the King the truth. "He's safe," he answered cryptically.

Max's jaw tightened and balled his fists. "Cal, where is my son?"

Before Cal could stop it, the words came out of his mouth. "Providence, Rhode Island. I had him taken to another home."

Max's expression almost softened and he blurted out a quick, "Thanks."

Cal seemed to ignore him. "Anyway, once Tess escaped, the FBI went after looking for her and gave up on finding Zan. They no longer had a hybrid in custody and needed another one for investigation. The Special Unit got a lot of flack for how the graduation went down. The FBI thought that it was too public, even though the half-wits in Roswell thought up of an excuse quick. Needless to say, they never found another hybrid to keep in custody and FBI shut them down. Sure, there are rogues out there and independently worked alien hunters but-"

"When did the unit shut down?" Max asked impatiently. Cal's words were circulating in his head. It was painfully obvious that the FBI had not taken Michael and Liz. But it didn't rule out possible alien hunting groups or old Special Unit employees. There was still a chance.

"About five years ago. Whatever you're looking for the Special Unit has nothing to do with it," Cal said with curiosity in his voice. "So the question is: What are you looking for?"

A pained expression painted itself onto Max's face. He was still reeling from the idea that this might actually be a dead end. Could he really just accept that Liz and Michael were really dead?

Cal's gaze was heavy upon him. "I thought that the FBI kidnapped Michael and Liz," Max admitted. "There was a fire about five years ago-"

"I know, kid. I told you I've been watching you."

"But why?" Max asked. "I mean, if you can't kill me yourself that's what's stopping you from stepping aside and letting something else happen to me?"

Cal frowned. "I can feel when you're in trouble. When you feel fear, I can feel it. It's in my encoding to somehow come to your aid or at least check up on you."

"I'm sure you hate that," Max snuffed.

"I do. There's no use denying it," Cal said solidly. "I don't like you."

"I get that," Max offered. He briefly thought to the last time he had seen Langley. Max, himself, even knew that his actions were selfish and unfair to Cal. He understood why Cal hated him.

Just when Max was beginning to feel sympathetic for Langley, an evil smile spread across Cal's face. It reminded Max of Nasedo. "So I'm going to enjoy the next words I say an awful lot. I'm not just your protector. I'm the protector of all of the Royal Four. I can feel more things than fear, Max."

Cal paused and took in Max's eager expression with satisfaction. He wanted to plan his next words carefully so Max would feel each one. Cal wanted Max's world to fall apart just like he had destroyed his.

"I can feel death. I felt it when you died the first time. I felt it when Isabel died. I felt it when Tess died. That night, Max, five years ago, all I could feel was your fear. Since then, I've felt nothing."

Max's eyes were wide. Cal almost wanted to take a picture, something he could put on his desk.

These were the moments he wanted to savor.