Isabel was still staring at the door five minutes after it closed behind Kyle. She was finally pulled out of her musings when she became aware of a flickering light coming from his room. She moved to his doorway and looked around, taking in the cushion belonging to the loveseat and the candles resting on an upended drawer. She entered his room and blew the candles out, putting them aside and replacing the drawer before picking the cushion up and carrying it out into the living area. She wedged it back into place on the loveseat before sitting down to stare at the blank television screen.
She reached for the remote, not to turn the television on, but just to have something in her hands. She turned it over and over as she thought about Kyle and wondered what was bothering him. He never complained, not even now when something was so obviously wrong with him. It had become noticeable the past couple of days. He was so laid-back and easygoing that when he was grumpy or snapping at people it was impossible to miss. It seemed strange that a simple cold would affect him so badly. She worried her thumbnail with her teeth as her thoughts started off on another, darker course. What if wasn't just a cold? What if there was something seriously wrong with him?
She had just assumed it was a cold. His lack of sleep, the irritability, the headache that seemed to be hanging on in spite of his efforts to rid himself of it. Maybe she should've just asked Max to do something, fix whatever was wrong. She didn't have that ability and she hadn't said anything to her brother because there was something there that she couldn't quite get a grip on. He seemed to have some kind of issue with Kyle and the last thing she wanted to do was make it any worse. She couldn't imagine that he wasn't aware of it but Kyle had never mentioned it. Whatever the problem was Max hadn't brought it up in front of anyone else. She sighed and shook her head. Maybe it was time to dreamwalk her brother, see if she could figure out what his issue with Kyle was.
It was like some sort of curse, she thought. Every guy she ever got close to ended up getting hurt… or worse. "Why did you come with us, Kyle? You had your dad… you might've been safer if you'd stayed behind."
"He came because he's a good friend." Alex sat on the rickety coffee table in front of her and waited patiently for her to look at him.
Isabel shook her head as her mind wandered over the many times she had relied on Kyle. "This whole thing has been nothing but trouble for him, Alex. He could be in college right now, playing sports and going to parties. He's given up too much for this thing… for us. For me," she added quietly.
"Do you really think he'd trade this crazy, sometimes dangerous ride, just to be another glory hound out on a football field?"
"He'd be safer if he had."
"Safer isn't always the better option. Safer isn't necessarily living." He reached out to lift her chin so he could look into her eyes. "Safer isn't a guarantee, Isabel."
She covered his hand with hers, amazed at how real, how alive, he felt. "If he could go back and make a different choice…"
"He'd make the same choice," he said with certainty.
"You can't know that."
"I do know that." He was silent for a few moments, lost in thought. "Remember when we were searching for the Gandarium hive? Kyle and I ended up trapped beneath the surface when those vindictive blue crystals decided to take us hostage."
"More proof that neither of you ever should've been involved."
"Let me show you something." He smiled quietly. "You think given the chance he'd make a different decision?"
"Why wouldn't he? Alex, he's been shot and died, he's being hunted like some kind of fugitive, he's been shot up with drugs that we have no way of knowing if they have long-term side effects, he's been taken away from his dad and may never see him again… There's no way he'd turn down an opportunity to go back and make a different choice."
Alex just held his free hand out to her, nodding at her and indicating she should take it.
Isabel sighed and slid her hand into his, inhaling sharply and closing her eyes at the sudden flash of bright light. "What was that?" She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her spotty vision. As the black spots began to dissipate her surroundings came into focus and she frowned at the patches of blue crystals, pulsating with an otherworldly light. "Where are we?" She turned to follow his pointing finger and she froze when she saw him dropping down to stand next to Kyle.
He laughed in response to something Kyle said but there was the slightest hint of nervousness in his voice as he looked around. "Alright, Columbus. You claimed the land for the Queen of Spain. What do you say we go tell the others?" He turned when the sunlight from above was suddenly stamped out and his eyes widened when he saw the blue crystals moving across the hole they had used to access the nest. "Oh, oh no! Oh, oh…"
Kyle looked around, the beam of his flashlight bouncing erratically off of the walls. "I don't know why I'm looking around." He glanced at his companion. "I suppose stuff like this happens all the time. Right?"
Alex slowly turned his head to look up at the Gandarium covering their only means of escape. "Yeah, sure."
She watched them as they made contact with Liz and learned that their hybrid friends couldn't get through the crystals and she couldn't stop the laughter when the two of them started singing American Pie. She fought off the memories of where she had been at the time they discovered that cutting off the crystal's oxygen would kill the alien creatures. She was saved from that trip down memory lane when the scene shifted and the two guys were suddenly lying on the floor of the nest, staring up at the ceiling.
Alex waved his flashlight, sending the beam dancing over the walls and ceiling of the nest. "So this is how it ends…"
Kyle had been staring at some point on the far wall, illuminated by the beam of his own flashlight as he spoke up. "Somehow this is NOT how I pictured it."
"It was a hell of a ride though."
"I guess."
"I mean, think about it," Alex said with a small laugh. "We not only MET aliens, but they killed us." He didn't seem to notice when Kyle turned and swung the beam of his flashlight towards him. "How many people can say that?"
"You're getting delirious, is that it?"
"Nah, take… take a step away from your life, Kyle."
Isabel listened to his slow speech pattern and wondered if he had been suffering from oxygen deprivation.
"You know, I mean, you're part of this… this amazing thing. This… amazing knowledge that you HAVE that 6 BILLION people on this planet don't. You really want to step out of this cave if it meant that you were gonna be another dumb jock?"
The silence in the cave continued for several long seconds before Kyle answered him.
"You know what, I wouldn't."
It wasn't long after that something fell from the ceiling and Kyle jumped up, yelling that they were being attacked. It had taken a moment before Alex had denied that assumption and proclaimed that the aliens were dying instead. She watched their reunion with the others and wished she had been with them rather than where she had been at the time.
"So you see," Alex said as the scene faded to black for a moment before the living area of the cabin rematerialized around them once more, "he made the choice that was right for him." He shook his head when she started to protest. "Kyle's a man who knows exactly what he wants, Isabel. He's loyal to a fault and you're never gonna have to wonder if he's got your back. None of you will ever have to wonder about that. It's who he is."
Isabel mulled over his words for a while. Since he had become a part of their group Kyle had always been there for her. He had never judged her, never questioned her when she just showed up out of the blue needing his companionship, and he had easily become the best friend she'd ever had. He had taken care of all of them in his quiet, unassuming way over the past six months. Longer, if the truth were to be told, she realized. In spite of his denial earlier though, something was bothering him. She hadn't missed the way he had straightened his spine before going out the door. Why was he taking whatever his burden was on his own shoulders? Why didn't he feel that he could share it with her?
She glanced at the clock and nodded decisively. Half an hour. She would give him half an hour and if he wasn't back by then she was going over to Michael and Maria's cabin to talk to Maria about him.
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Liz looked up from her contemplation of her rapidly cooling hot chocolate when she heard a knock at the door. She hated that her heart rate automatically sped up in response to the simple sound of a visitor announcing their arrival. She crossed the living room to reach the front door, her hand resting on the knob for a moment as she drew in a deep breath. She flexed her fingers, knowing that if necessary she could and would defend herself.
She unlocked the door without making a sound, slowly turning the knob and pulling the door open. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise when she saw Kyle standing there, his left hand braced on the doorframe and his right hand shoved deep in the pocket of his jeans. He looked haggard and weighed down by something unseen. She reached out to grab a handful of his coat and pulled him inside.
"Kyle, what's wrong? Are you still feeling bad?" She pushed the door closed and herded him over to the couch. "Here, sit down."
He shook his head tiredly as he unbuttoned his coat and sat down. "You remember when you came to me complaining about feelin' fatigued? I was workin' at the garage at the time." He pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes. "Didn't you mention something about hallucinations?"
Liz stilled for a moment before sitting down next to him. "Um, why? Has something happened?"
"I'm not sure." Maybe he had jumped the gun and it wasn't anything to be concerned about. "I mean, it could just be stress, right?" He pushed himself to his feet and shoved his hands deep in his pockets as he started to pace restlessly.
"Kyle, whatever it is, you know you can tell me. You were there for me, now let me be here for you."
He pulled in a deep breath, holding it for several seconds before releasing it slowly and turning to look at her. "Well, for starters, I haven't slept in two nights, like at all, and I have this dull headache that's hangin' in the background just waitin' for any excuse to explode. I've taken Tylenol, which usually kills a headache for me, but it's not workin' this time." He stopped and snorted quietly. "Maybe it is just stress. I mean, you were tired all the time and you couldn't stay awake, right?"
"Did you see or hear something?"
"Yeah, I saw my dad. At least, I think I did." He sighed in frustration and began to pace again. "I'm not even sure it was real. I mean, I haven't slept in several days and I've been zoning out for seconds at a time." He rubbed his face with both hands. "I'm really freakin' out here, Liz."
She stood up, tugging the hem of her shirt down and planting her hands on her hips. "Okay, let's try to sort it out by going over everything you were doing just before it happened. Maybe if we do that we can figure out if it's just stress or…" her eyes shifted across the room. "Or something else." She watched him for a moment before speaking again. "For the record me and Maria just thought you were coming down with the flu."
Kyle's lips quirked in a tight smile. "Isn't that the same thing you told everyone when you were seeing things?" He gave her a slightly sarcastic look. "I'm feeling so much better here."
"Kyle, I…"
"No worries, it's just stress and between the two of us we're gonna prove it."
Her mind automatically shifted into scientific mode. "Okay, so what were you doing before you saw your dad?"
He fell silent, his eyes locked on the window across the room as he mentally went over everything he had done. "I went back to the cabin to spend some quality time with Buddha, figuring if I cleared my mind and cleansed my soul I'd be able to get some sleep. Meditation and prayer's been kinda slim on the run, ya know? Anyway, I was just sitting there, clearing my mind, and I guess thinking about where I felt most at rest."
Liz smiled when he unconsciously inhaled deeply and released it slowly. He did that any time he was stressed or when he was trying to find peace within himself and most of the time she doubted he even knew he was doing it.
He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "I started to picture the inside of our kitchen back home and for a minute I thought…" He shook his head. "Ah, you know, it has to be the stress. I'm sure that's all it is."
"Kyle," Liz said, her tone encouraging.
He ran his hands over his face again. "Oh, alright, but let it be noted that I think my sleep-deprived brain imagined it."
"Consider it noted."
Kyle shook his head back and forth slightly as he weighed his next words.
"So you were in your dad's kitchen and you thought… what?"
"I could've sworn I could smell Dad's chili cookin'. And the really weird thing? I kinda shifted my weight and I swear, Liz, I could feel the give in that one loose tile that's over by the sink. Dad's been sayin' he was gonna fix that thing for years and he's never…" he shook his head. "Not important." He started to pace again as he ran one hand through his hair. "It's like my brain forgot that I was sitting on the floor of the cabin."
"Keep going, Kyle. What were you feeling?"
He stopped mid-pace and looked at her. "It was like all of the sudden every ache and pain I've felt for the past couple days just disappeared. I felt good for the first time since I started feelin' like crap." He frowned at the next memory that surfaced. "Anyway, then I heard scuffing noises and it's like they were right there in the room with me. I turned and saw my dad coming into the kitchen. And that's when I started to feel like someone was pushin' me underwater. You know how when you're in the pool and someone dunks you unexpectedly? That's what it was like. And next thing I know I heard my dad say my name. He looked right at me, Liz, like, directly at me. He started rubbing his face with his hands and then he called me again."
Liz remained silent, waiting for him to gather his thoughts and pull himself together. He had grown quiet and she could see his blue eyes shining as he recalled seeing his dad.
"I took a few steps forward and answered him but then that feeling of being pushed underwater started to build again and outta nowhere I felt like I was fallin' backwards. Next thing I know I'm back on the floor in my room over at the cabin." He sat down and looked at Liz, waiting for her to say something, to make sense out of this waking nightmare.
"Kyle, we really need to talk to Max about this," she said as she sat down on the couch again.
He stood up abruptly. "Somehow I was afraid you were gonna say that." He started to pace again, his movements agitated. "You know what the worst thing about it is? Buddha was like my safe place, my escape from all the alien chaos." Well, okay, there was that one really freaky dream where Buddha was quoting Shakespeare, had a cell phone, and was making plans to be beamed aboard a spaceship. He shuddered at that memory. "I know not everyone gets the Buddha thing, but it's helped keep me sane."
"Kyle, I understand this's difficult, but Max needs to know. I mean, maybe he can help you."
He thought about that for a few minutes before shaking his head. "I think I'll pass. Can we just keep this between us for now?" He paused by the counter in the kitchen and held his hand over the cold mug of hot chocolate, shrugging his shoulders when it didn't heat after a couple of seconds. "So, how're you doin' with your otherworldly abilities?"
Liz smiled when he shoved his hand in his pocket and turned back to face her. "I'm good, Kyle, and you're gonna be okay," she said, accepting the change of subject.
He dropped back down on the couch beside her and slouched back into the cushions. "Yeah."
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Max walked beside Michael, his thoughts on their disagreement on the ice. He knew there were still things that needed to be addressed but as a rule as long as those things weren't front and center he was content to let sleeping dogs lie. There were just some things in his and Liz's past that he didn't want to deal with and his issues with Kyle were damn close to the top of that list.
"Keep what I said in mind, Maxwell," Michael said as they reached the road that stretched between the cabins. He stopped and reached out to grab Max's arm, making him stop and face him. "We both know I'm not into all that touchy-feely let's-talk-about-our-feelings crap, but you're not me."
"Being more open to talking about feelings doesn't necessarily make it easier to talk about some things, Michael." He looked him in the eye. "Me and Liz aren't the only ones who have things that need to be dealt with but I don't go around pointing it out to you."
Michael nodded and stared at the stars overhead for a moment. "Me an' Maria, we've got our issues, no denyin' that. The difference is, we're not makin' it a problem for other people. And Kyle? The guy's easygoing, but one of these days you're gonna push it too far with him."
"I'm gonna push it too far with him?" Max asked incredulously. "You don't even know what the issue is!"
"So tell me."
"No thanks, I'll pass." He shrugged Michael's hand off and waved over his shoulder as he headed in the direction of his own cabin. "Yeah," he muttered, "I'd like to deal with it." He shoved away the memories that rose up before him and drew in a deep breath. Being in such cramped quarters with Kyle had kept those memories close to the surface and every time he had seen the other guy with Liz it just grated on his nerves. After months of that constant irritation his nerves felt raw and exposed.
He rolled his shoulders back and sighed when he spotted the warm lights spilling from the windows of the Honeymoon cabin. Finally he could put all of this nonsense out of his head and just spend a quiet evening with Liz. He hated that Michael had decided to bring it up just after he'd been forced to leave Liz with Kyle. He checked his pocket for the key out of habit before realizing that he'd left it with Liz earlier.
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Michael glanced back and forth between Maria and Isabel, taking in the open looks of concern on their faces. "What's wrong?" he asked as he closed the door and ran his hand through his hair to brush out the snowflakes that had started to fall. Again.
"Did Kyle happen to find you?" Isabel asked, bypassing his question.
"No." He frowned. "Was he lookin' for me?"
"Not particularly."
"Then why'd you think I might've run into him?"
"He was just… acting a bit off when I got back to our cabin and he took off, said he needed some air or something."
"And you just let him go?" He started zipping his coat up again.
Isabel glared at him. "He's not the family dog that got off the leash, Michael," she snapped. "Something's bothering him."
"You two get your coats on." He couldn't just have his soldiers running AWOL. "We're goin' down to Max's cabin and you're gonna stay there while I go find Valenti. And after I get done kickin' his ass for takin' off on his own like that we're gonna have another meeting."
Maria and Isabel exchanged a look but followed his orders since finding Kyle and making sure he was alright was their priority.
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Max rested his hand over the brass plate and gave the tumbler a mental nudge, nodding in satisfaction when he heard the accompanying metallic clicks as it unlocked. He turned the knob and pushed the door open, putting one foot over the threshold and freezing as he took in the scene in his living room. Kyle was slouched down, his upper body leaning in toward Liz where she sat next to him, the smiles on their faces frozen as they turned to look at him. He could feel the blood in his veins start to boil as his mind quickly replaced the current scene with one of the two of them under the covers, naked in her bed.
His gaze locked on the man sitting next to Liz as he cleared that image from his sight. He looked between Kyle and Liz, feeling every muscle in his body tense. Trust warred with the old feelings of betrayal and hurt as he took in their relaxed demeanors and the ease they had with each other. "What's going on here?" he demanded, his eyes narrowed.
Kyle met his gaze directly. "Nothing, we were just talkin'." He stood and played with the buttons on his coat. "And I was just about to leave." He shot a glance at Liz. "I'll catch you later. Thanks for the talk."
Max shifted, intentionally blocking Kyle's path when he tried to leave.
"Let's not do this tonight, Evans," Kyle said as he started to push past him.
He ignored the underlying note of warning in the other guy's tone and bumped his shoulder against him as he started to move past him. "Watch your step, Kyle."
Blue eyes clashed with brown as they stared at each other as the intended physical taunt hit its goal with deadly accuracy. He was mentally and physically fried and the insomnia had his temper on edge so when he responded his tone was pure acid. "Yes, Your Highness." He added a slight bow just to piss Max off.
Max pulled back and shoved Kyle as hard as he could. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Max!" Liz got to her feet and crossed the room with the intention of intervening. "He didn't mean anything, Max. Stop this!"
His temper skyrocketed and his eyes were challenging as they locked on Max. He checked to make sure Liz was out of the way before he shoved him, forcing him back. "Don't you ever touch me like that again!"
The sound of Liz calling out to him to stop him from going after Kyle, her defending his presence in their cabin, and her insistence that he stop defending what was his all came together in a single instant and he saw red. He pulled his arm back, his hand balled up in a tight fist, and he let it fly.
The satisfying feeling of bone on bone never came as Michael suddenly appeared between them, shoving them apart and shouting at him. "Max, what the hell are you doing?"
Maria and Isabel squeezed inside and quickly took in the guys' combative stances. "Oh, my God, what is going on here?"
Kyle didn't acknowledge either of them as he tried to get around Michael's hand on his chest, holding him back. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he shouted at Max.
Michael used his powers just enough to nudge Kyle back even as he was pulling Max forward. He couldn't believe Max had been about to punch Kyle. He had been on the receiving end of that fist before and he wasn't about to let him turn it on one of their own. Not to mention the last thing they needed was to bring negative attention on themselves. He released his hold on Kyle when Isabel shifted to get in front of him.
Max shoved Michael. "Get out of my way," he growled.
"Just stop it, both of you!" Isabel shouted, her gaze bouncing back and forth between them.
Michael's expression was lethal as he locked gazes with Max. "You're not hittin' anyone on my watch, you got it?" he said, his voice cold and calm. "Now back off and cool off!"
Kyle paid no attention to Isabel as she tried to calm him down. "He's crazy!" he yelled, the words aimed at Michael. "What the hell is wrong with him? I mean, I was just here talkin' to Liz and everything was fine. Then he comes in and – "
Max attempted to break free of Michael's hold again and when he couldn't break the iron grip his temper spiked and his powers surged. He pushed against Michael and shoved him across the room, unaware of it when he stumbled and fell, hitting his head on the coffee table.
Maria rushed over to him and knelt down, her fingers carefully probing his head where it had impacted with the table. "Are you okay?"
"Fine," he grumbled as he reached up to brush her fingers away. "Help me up so I can get over there before they kill each other."
"You don't know?" Max screamed, getting in Kyle's face when he shook Isabel off to face off with him again. "How can you not know? I find you alone with MY WIFE in our home and you, what? You think I could ever forget about finding you naked in bed with her last year?"
Kyle suddenly stepped back and he stared at him in shock. "What? You've… you've been together for like, a year and a half… You've been married for months." He still didn't even know what that whole thing had been about, but how could they have gotten this far in their relationship without talking about it? "Wait," he turned his head to look at Liz, "you guys never talked about that?" He looked at Max and shook his head. "Nothing happened."
Maria moved closer but was careful not to get between them. "It's true, Max, nothing happened between them. Liz was just doing whatever she could to get you to accept your destiny." She nodded when his gaze bounced around the room before focusing on her. "Think about it, girlfriend, you know nothing happened."
Michael looked at her suspiciously. "You know what they're talkin' about?"
Liz got in between all of them, hands held out as she raised her voice. "Stop! Just stop it, all of you! This's all my fault!"
Kyle moved to stand closer to Isabel, watching Max's expression shift to one of stunned confusion as he turned to look at Liz.
"What the hell's goin' on now?" Michael demanded.
Max held a hand up in a bid for silence. His eyes were locked on Liz. She was trembling and her beautiful eyes were welling up with tears.
"Because you asked me to."
"I asked you to what, sleep with Kyle?" His voice had dropped dangerously low as his heart and mind battled for dominance. Her pain was real and that made him take a mental step back. "You wanted to make me believe it, but why? I never would've asked you to do somethin' like that."
"But you did," she insisted miserably. "Not that scenario exactly, but you wanted me to make you fall out of love with me."
His confusion played across his features clearly as he shook his head. "Liz, what're you talking about?"
"Liz, just tell him," Maria whispered as she gave her friend a supportive nod. "It's time." She could feel Michael's eyes burning into the back of her head as he tried to figure out what was going on and why she hadn't told him about it.
"Max, you came back from 14 years in the future and told me that we couldn't be together, that if we stayed together the world would end."
He shook his head in denial. There was no way simply telling her something like that would've convinced her to go to the lengths she had gone to in an effort to alter their futures. He looked at her, searching the depths of her dark eyes for answers only she had possession of. "There has to be more to it than that. What could some future version of me have said to make you think hurting me, us, like that was a good idea?"
Michael was listening, taking in everything that was being said. He had put the revelation about Kyle and Liz being in bed together on the back burner; it was only relevant as far as Max being able to deal with his wife and Kyle being friends. They could deal with that later. The fact that some supposed future version of Max had paid Liz a visit and she and Maria had kept that information from all of them was the more pertinent issue.
"What the hell were the two of you thinking, not tellin' the rest of us about this?" Michael exploded. "Do you have any idea what could've happened? Hell, for all we know the guy could've been dangerous."
"He wasn't dangerous," Liz insisted. "He was Max."
Michael advanced on her. "What reason could you possibly have for keeping information like this to yourself?"
"Michael," Maria spoke up in an effort to calm him down and let Liz finish what had been started.
He whirled around to face her and his expression was thunderous. "And you! Whether anyone else was informed or not, you should've told me about this!"
"It wasn't exactly my secret to tell."
"Not good enough." He shook his head. "Not nearly good enough, Maria."
Isabel glanced up from her perusal of the floor and her gaze bounced back and forth between Michael and Maria as they stood locked in a battle of wills. He wasn't yelling now but there were times when he would lower his voice and it was worse than him yelling the roof down. "Michael, this isn't helping anything," she bit out after a moment of watching them. "Let Liz say what she has to say."
"I didn't want to keep anything from you," Liz interrupted. "From any of you." She looked at her husband. "My first instinct was to run to you but when he told me what had happened… That Tess would eventually leave because of us and without her we were unable to stop Khivar's invasion…" she shook her head, swallowing hard. "Max, when that future version of you came to me he told me that Michael had just died, that he'd held him in his arms as he died, just minutes before he came to me. He said Isabel had been killed two weeks before that…" She looked around at them, her emotional distress open to everyone. "How could I take the chance that what he said wouldn't come true?"
Her tears spilled over and each one tore at Max's heart. He felt his anger melt away at the distress seeping from her pores and he crossed the room to take her in his arms, his voice low and soothing as he murmured apologies amid other nonsense in an effort to calm her down and let her know everything would be alright.
Michael was still pissed at being kept in the dark but his features softened slightly as he looked at Liz. He had read her journal not long after she had found out the truth about them, and in addition to what he had learned about her over the past few years, he knew that she had not made the decisions she had made lightly. She believed that Max had come from the future and considering the agony the two of them had put each other through time after time he could only imagine what it had cost her to push the boy she had loved more than anything into Tess' arms.
Isabel had been pacing quietly, the small pendant at the end of her necklace pinched between her thumb and forefinger as she dragged it back and forth against the chain. Her steps slowed and she tapped the pendant against her pursed lips as she brought her chaotic thoughts into some semblance of order. "It was Tess," she said finally, breaking the heavy silence. "It wasn't your fault, Liz, it was mine. I'm the one who let her in."
Kyle sat in the rocking chair, unaware of the stuffed grizzly bear he was squishing. He propped his elbows on his knees and dropped his head in his hands as he sighed. He rubbed his hands over his face and then raked his fingers through his hair. "Dad brought her into our home and I accepted her… add my name to the list of people to blame."
"No." Michael stood at the window looking out into the night. "No, it's no one's fault." He lifted his eyes to catch Max's reflection as he held his wife, his embrace tender and comforting. "Tess did this, no one else is to blame." He shook his head. "Blaming each other or ourselves for anything she did stops tonight. No one made her turn on us; she came to Roswell with the intention of gaining our trust, translating that damn book, and then getting us back to Antar so she could turn us over to our enemies." He turned to look at each of them in turn. "She's the only one to blame. The fact that she went after Max had nothing to do with who we were in our previous lives. Claiming that they had a connection or whatever was obviously a lie because he wasn't gonna be spared when we showed up on Antar. He was slated for execution just like me an' Isabel."
Liz rested the side of her head against Max's chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart as she took in what Michael was saying. She wanted to believe him, wanted to believe that she wasn't at fault, but was it true? How many times had she questioned her role in Alex's death? If she had refused to help Future Max, if Tess had done as he said and left Roswell, would he be dead now?
"Questions like that serve no purpose," Michael snapped as he moved closer to Liz. He knew by the widening of her eyes that she had no idea that she had spoken aloud.
"Michael, back off," Max said quietly but insistently.
Their gazes locked for a moment before Michael nodded and stepped back. "Maybe we should call it a night and we'll regroup in the mornin'."
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The four of them stepped out into the crisp, cold night air and the cabin door shut behind them, leaving them in silence. The stillness of the night was broken only by the sound of the snow crunching under their feet as they made their way along the driveway. When they reached the fork in the road Kyle and Isabel went off to the left and Michael and Maria continued on their own path.
Michael slowed his steps and pushed his thoughts behind closed doors as he felt that prickling sensation at the back of his neck. He turned under the guise of checking to see that the other couple had made it safely to their own cabin, using the opportunity to scan their surroundings. He forced his hand to stay at his side, refusing to reach up and rub his neck and reveal his uneasiness.
"Michael, what is it?" Maria asked as she linked her arm with his.
His sharp gaze settled on the garage and after a moment he shook his head. "Nothin'."
"Are you sure?"
"I said it's nothin'."
Standing in the shadows close to the garage wall Edward watched the last couple disappear from sight. If he hadn't been cast in shadow he and Michael would've been making eye contact as the younger man located his position with unerring accuracy. There was something uncanny about the boy; he had instincts that only fit someone his age when the uglier side of life had left its mark on that person.
He had been on his way back into the house when he had heard the shouting coming from down the driveway. He couldn't make out the particulars of what was being said but it had been impossible to miss the signs of a fight brewing between two of the boys. He had seen Michael push his way in to break it up and the door had closed at that point, preventing him from seeing anything else.
He wondered what was going on between the six of them and what they were really doing in his neck of the woods. As he watched the little Honeymoon cabin he found his curiosity about his guests spiking. He could practically hear Julia telling him to mind his business and that thought made him smile. What she didn't understand was that this was his business; anything that had the potential of affecting his family, especially in a negative manner, was his business.