Part 10/11: home (Michael)

"I can't believe you just did that!" Tess yelled. "How could you just throw the key away like that? You know I'll never find it again, don't you?"

I smiled brightly even though I was beginning to feel nauseated. "I know. That's why I threw it."

Tess let out a frustrated sigh. "God. You are such a jerk, you know that?" She turned to look in the direction of where I'd thrown the key. "You know, you could have just given me the key, and then I would have left you alone, but no, that wasn't enough for you."

I ignored her last comment. "Great. The killer's calling me a jerk."

Tess looked like she was about to deny she was a killer. Instead, she just looked up at me and said, "You know, Michael, this really isn't funny."

"I'm not laughing," I pointed out.

Tess turned around and stared at the sky. "You could have just given me the key, and I would have left you alone," she repeated.

"Well, you really didn't give me the opportunity," I told her. "You could have told me what the key unlocked, maybe. Come to think of it, you still haven't.

Tess turned slowly back around. "I needed the key to activated the ship. I searched for seven years, and when I finally find it..." She shook her head. "I really can't believe this, Michael. Seven years. For nothing."

"Michael!"

I turned around to see Maria running towards us. Tess looked away.

"Maria, you shouldn't be here."

Maria made no move to leave. "She wants the key, Michael."

"I took care of that." I glanced at Tess who refused to look at us.

"You gave it to her?" Maria asked incredulously.

"No, I kind of lost it," I told Maria.

"You threw it as far away from me as you could, Michael, and you know it," Tess said, but she didn't look at me.

"Well, yeah. Same thing."

Maria grabbed my arm. "Michael!"

"What?" I pulled out of her grasp.

"Michael, I saw her cry."

I looked at Tess. "No way."

"Yes. If you'd just given her the key..."

"I didn't know what it was for!" I yelled. "Don't go blaming this on me!"

Maria sighed. "I'm not trying to."

Suddenly Tess turned around angrily. "It's no use to argue about it anymore. It's done with! I need the key if I ever want to go home, and face it, that's not going to happen." She had tears on her cheeks.

"Your home is here," I told her, even though I didn't believe it. For whatever reason, I felt sorry for her.

"Don't lie to me. This may be your home, and Max's home, and Isabel's home, but it's not mine."

Maria spoke up. "You mentioned before that Michael loved me and Max loved Liz and Isabel loved Alex...but what about you? You must have found something here."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Tess wiped the tears away and stared into space.

"Yes, you do."

I had no idea what Maria was trying to get at, but I hoped she knew what she was doing.

"Okay, maybe I did. Maybe when I was here I actually had a real family. You know, Valenti and Kyle. They actually cared about me, gave me a home, not like Nasedo. But it doesn't matter. They'll never love me now." This time she didn't bother wiping the tears away. She just stood there, looking at nothing for a few minutes. Then she looked at us. "I should go now. I don't know where, but I'm not staying in Roswell, that's for sure." She hesitated for a second. "I really am sorry, you know. I don't care whether you believe me or not, but I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't exactly cover the damage you've done," I pointed out.

"I know that. I'm not looking for forgiveness or anything. I just wanted to let you know." She walked away, in the opposite direction of where ever the key was now, and Maria and I watched as she turned the corner and disappeared.