Ninety-six hours (Canon/CC Adult) 15 Nov 06 complete

[greywolf]

Author: Greywolf
Banner by Zanity
Couple: All CC
Rating: Mature due to subject matter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell or any of the characters. Please don't sue me.
Summary: Occurring after Viva Las Vegas, an evil alien entity is stalking Tess. But as usual, she looks out for number one....

Friday 9:00PM June 4th Rudy’s Cabins, Bottomless Lakes State Park Access Road, NM State Highway 409, 14 miles from Roswell New Mexico.

Tess glanced through the cabin’s window and strained to concentrate. Maybe she could have avoided doing this by just asking for their help, but Nasedo had taught her to take no chances. Of course, there was always the law of unintended consequences, she reminded herself. But given what she’d recently seen….well, she’d take no chances on facing THAT again. The healing stone glowed in her hand as she drew power from it to help strengthen the mindwarp. Both were trying to resist what she wanted them to do…but with the power of the stone, it wouldn’t matter. This was the last stone still charged, and it would take her weeks to recharge the whole five. But with luck, these two would be the last two people she’d mindwarp tonight. The power she had should be more than adequate.



Ten minutes earlier:
“Wait in the car until I check the place over, Liz” said Max.
But she didn’t. And he knew she was doing it to make a point. She wasn’t his to command. He wasn’t her king, he wasn’t her boyfriend, he wasn’t her…..anything. She’d made that clear enough…crystal clear, in fact, that night he’d seen her with Kyle.

“I don’t see Tess,” she said.

“It’s only 8:50. We’re still 10 minutes early. This is cabin number seven, like she said. If she said she’d meet us here, I’m sure she will. I just hope she’s alright.”

Liz hoped Tess was alright too. With all she’d given up to keep Tess part of the group she couldn’t hope for anything else.

Future Max had made it plain, Max’s destiny…..everyone’s destiny, depended on Tess. She knew that she could never really like Tess. The cost of keeping her part of the group had been far too high. And she hoped that was why she felt the way she did…that her fears weren’t in fact well-founded. ‘I’ve just never trusted that little blonde bitch…..’ she thought. And she knew she still didn't.

96 hours earlier
Monday9:00 PM, Valenti Residence, Roswell New Mexico.

‘This bathroom goes beyond unsanitary,’ Tess thought as she got ready for bed. ‘I wonder if they even put the toilet seat down when they take a crap,’ she thought as she waved her hand and cleaned the counter, ‘…and if I couldn’t aim any better than that, I’d sit down to pee,’ she told herself, ‘but not on a seat that dirty….,’ she said, as she waved her hand again, cleaning the seat.

‘Hell, I probably could aim better than that….standing up. What slobs.’

Finally she finished with the commode, and flushed it, carefully leaving the toilet seat in the down position. She reached for the lavatory faucet and froze…apparently Kyle had been changing the oil in the Mustang again. ‘Somehow I think when I wave my hand to clean the grease off the handle…so I can turn the handle to clean my hand…somehow I think I’m losing ground here…,’ she said to herself.

She picked up the toothpaste tube and looked at it with obvious disgust. It looked like someone had stepped on the middle, with dry caked toothpaste around the cap, and the same pale blue toothpaste leaking out of the bottom. ‘Would it be too damn much trouble,’ she thought as she threw the toothpaste tube into the already overflowing bathroom waste receptacle, ‘for them to roll the damn tube up from the bottom?’
She again washed her hands, ridding them of the toothpast residue and reached under the sink for a new tube. She found it easily on the bottom shelf, but as she pulled it out she dislodged a small avalanche of magazines that piled up almost to her ankles. She looked them over as she flung them one at a time toward the back of the sink cabinet. ‘Maxim…., Playboy….., Hustler…, For Him Magazine…, New Nudes…..,….this is soo tacky.’ But it wasn’t just the Valenti men, she knew. The whole damn planet was tacky. That’s why she was getting off of it, and she didn’t care how.
As she was leaving the bathroom she looked in the shower stall, anticipating her morning shower. She shuddered and shook her head when she saw the grime trailing down from the soap tray to the drain. 'Screw it! I'll deal with it in the morning.'

As she left the bathroom, Jim Valenti saw her going down the hall. “Going to bed so early, Tess?”

“Yes sir. A girl needs her beauty sleep,” said Tess Harding. ‘Particularly when you have to get up at 2 AM,’ she thought.

[greywolf]

Tuesday 2:15 AM The Evans Residence, Roswell New Mexico.

This was the difficult part, she realized, as she held the stones in her hand. Not the real stones, of course, they were inside. These were in fact...just stones.....stones that with a few hours of molecular manipulation were now indistinguishable from the healing stones....unless you tried to use them. There was a chance, she supposed, that the deception could be uncovered. One of the other three might be injured...might require the stones...and the fakes would be discovered. That was a calculated risk she considered in the plan...not that someone might die for want of the stones, but that their death might lead to the knowledge that she had taken them. It was a risk...but a small one. And even if the stones were needed....even if someone died without them....if she were careful it wouldn't be traced back to her. And she was being very careful as she unlocked the back door to the Evans residence, and careful indeed as she quietly tiptoed down the hallway to his bedroom. She closed her eyes and started the mindwarp...controlling what he saw, controlling what he heard....

Tuesday 2:38 AM The Whitman Residence, Roswell New Mexico.

Four of the stones were safely in her pocket, the fifth in her hand as Tess entered the back door of the Whitman residence. She knew how to do this...Nasedo had told her how, before his death....but still wasn't completely sure what effect it would have on him. Probably not much, this time at least. She probably didn't even need the stone at all tonight....she was using it mainly for practice. All she was going to do was to instill in his mind a need....a compulsion, to sign up for that summer student exchange overseas. The harder part would come later. She wouldn't be able to be there for all those long weeks in Las Cruces...the weeks she would make him use the New Mexico State University supercomputer to decipher the book....to learn how to make the granolith take her back. It might take a dozen sessions with him with the stones, to burn the mindwarp into his brain, to get him to work for weeks without her being there to direct him. And then to ...not forget...but to remember only the cover story of his trip abroad. She'd asked Nasedo how difficult this would be...whether it could be harmful or painful and Nasedo had assured her that there would be no difficulty for her...he wasn't sure about the human. She looked at him, half sprawled out of his bed, his guitar next to him. She didn't much care for any humans, she thought, but even so, it was strange that Isabel should be attracted to this one. He did have a good brain though,...for a human. She hoped it wouldn't be damaged by the mindwarp to come, at least not until he had time to complete the translation.

Tuesday 3:05 AM At the corner of 7th street and Zia avenue, Roswell New Mexico, one block from the Valenti Residence.

The four stones were safe in her right pocket, the fifth one was in her left hand. She'd work at recharging it tonight and it would be at full strength before breakfast, although she'd probably have a headache doing it that quickly. But Nasedo had taught her to take no chances. She could rest AFTER her weapons were at the ready. She was rather pleased with the night's work, certain that Alex would apply for that student exchange program. He'd resisted more than she would have thought...apparently planning on spending that time with Isabel. Funny, that relationship. Vilandra could have been quenn...ruled with Kivar. Now she was dating, on and off, at least, this nerdish musician. And there were a few times when she actually seemed to be interested in him. The irony was incredible. If Vilandra had just gone to Kivar...none of this would have happened. Kivar wouldn't be ruling alone...without an heir, willing to make Nasedo ...and now her, a deal to let her go home. All she needed was to be carrying the royal heir. With Vilandra at his side, Kivar would have needed none of this...and she'd be trapped on this stinking planet ....if anyone had ever even bothered to create her at all. With the power of the stones, she'd have little difficulty forcing Max to mate with her, but first she needed the directions from the book on how to work the granolith...that was key. That might take three months. No sense getting pregnant any sooner than she needed to. Certainly not on this primitive world. She didn't really care about the baby, it was just her ticket home...but pregnancy could be a time of risk for the mother too...or host, as she'd prefer to be called. Nasedo said there would be artificial wombs on Antar...to carry it the last 6 months. They'd be welcome to the little parasite...yet another reason she wanted the book deciphered before she mindwarped Max.

The attack when it came, came from the left....out of the alley. It would have killed her, she knew, if she hadn't sensed it...through the stone in her hand. She'd felt immense power.....rage....evil. She had tried to take cover, tried to shield herself behind the parked car, and it had taken the worst of the...of the what? A powerblast....on steroids? The car was crumpled and she'd been sent sprawling into the side of the building. Her arm was obviously broken...it had never bent that way before..but she clung to the stone in her hand, using the power of it...draining the power of it to send images at the ...person? ...thing? ..in the alley. She'd tried to project dozens of Tess Hardings running all over the road, in each direction. As multiple blasts seemed to go after many of those images she pulled herself up from the ground with her good arm, and ran......just ran.....as fast as she could she ran toward....home.

Tuesday 3:09 The Valenti residence, Roswell New Mexico

Kyle awakened immediately when he heard the back door slam open, getting up off the couch wearing only his underwear. He ran into the kitchen carrying a baseball bat but dropped it immediately when he saw Tess on the floor, her arm bent in an awkward and unnatural position, tears falling from her eyes as she raised her good hand to close and lock the door with a quick burst of yellow light. Kyle didn't think he'd ever seen anyone look so scared as she crawled awkwardly back away from the door, her eyes never leaving it, and terror written large on her face. He called out loudly for his father and Jim Valenti appeared shortly wearing pajama bottoms, his right hand gripping a 9mm pistol. He saw Kyle, baseball bat in hand, huddled over a terrified Tess

"What's going on son?"

'It's Tess, Dad. She's been attacked..."

[greywolf]

Tuesday 3:30 AM The Evans Residence, Roswell New Mexico

As she watched the two teenagers drive off into the darkness, Diane Evans could not have been more confused. It seemed like only yesterday that Sheriff Valenti seemed to be almost stalking Max. She remembered him calling her in after the kitchen fire, making all sorts of bizarre allegations about her son. Now he calls up in the middle of the night, asks for Max by his first name as if they were lifetime friends, and then pleads with her to let the kids come over immediately. She knew the girl named Tess was a friend of Isabel, and that Max had sometimes been with her since whatever blowup he’d had with Liz Parker. But was it really necessary for them to come help the girl….but then, they said the girl had been attacked. Hopefully that didn’t mean…sexually attacked. But if that were the case, she could understand the Sheriff’s desire for Isabel to be there. Heck, it was bad enough her father had disappeared and she was living with the Valenti’s temporarily, but if she’d been sexually assaulted….well, she could see why they’d want a female friend…like Isabel, to give her support. As the taillights went out of sight she prayed the poor girl wasn’t badly hurt, and that Isabel and Max could help…whatever was wrong. She went back to bed, knowing that she wouldn’t sleep a wink until Max and Izzie called her……they’d promised to do that…as soon as they could.

Tuesday 3:40AM The Valenti residence, Roswell New Mexico.

At first the arm had been sort of numb. Sure, there had been pain, but it had really been less severe than she would have expected. It hadn’t been so much a lot of pain at first, as the promise of a lot of pain to come. Now, after half an hour, the arm was keeping that promise. It was a throbbing, gut-wrenching, nauseating pain,that was increasingly by the minute. She thought a couple of ribs were cracked too, since it hurt like fury with every breath. She’d had to stop Kyle from calling 911. While his heart might have been in the right place, his brain had been lacking. All she needed was to go to an emergency room and have them draw blood on her. It wasn’t like she didn’t have enough trouble. What human girl would they get to give blood to replace her samples? The only two real candidates were Liz, who she knew hated her, despite her sudden reversal and acquiescence to her getting Max to fulfill what she had claimed was his destiny. Good luck with that. Or would it be Liz’s best friend Maria, who probably hated her only marginally less than Liz did. No, what she needed was Max, and she knew he and Isabel were on their way. She carefully transferred the stone from the left hand to the right and put it in her pocket with the other four. She couldn’t let any of them see those. But that wasn’t what really bothered her, she knew, peering out though the windows into the darkness. Someone….or something, was still out there…and she’d never felt anything so evil…not even Nasedo had been that evil….but what was worse was she also knew she’d never felt anything so strong, or anything that seemed to hate her so much.


Tuesday 3:45AM The Valenti residence, Roswell New Mexico.

As he heard the jeep enter the driveway Sheriff Valenti checked carefully out the sidelight window before opening the door.

“Max…Izzie, she’s in the kitchen.”

“What happened to her Sheriff?”

“You might as well hear it first hand from her, Max. We don’t have the whole story really, it’s like she was in shock at first. She’d still pretty scared…and beat up. And I’m going to have to go…if you two can stay here and protect her. The office called. Apparently this started out a block away…..a number of cars damaged….lots of windows broken. What Tess was doing there at the time….we’re not sure. But evidently she was right in the middle of it when it broke out. She may be the only one injured…we don’t know yet, but there’s plenty of property damage, and no good story for how it occurred. “

“It must have been powerful,” said Isabel. 'Tess’s powers are a match for any of ours. If it didn’t have any trouble with her…..well, be careful, Sheriff. Be real careful.”

“I will. Lock the door behind me, and I’m on my cellphone if you need me.”

“OK, Sheriff.”

As he entered the kitchen Max immediately saw Tess, her arm obviously broken, looking pale and frightened sitting on the kitchen floor.

But his eyes didn’t linger on Tess, they moved of their own volition to Kyle, and his anger started burning. It took all of his control to reign in that anger. In his head a voice was saying, ‘It wasn’t all Kyle’s fault….however much you’d LIKE to believe that. You were there. He certainly wasn’t forcing her. You can’t hate him and give her a pass on the same incident.’ But it was different, he knew. It was easy to hate Kyle…he’d never really cared much for Kyle. But it’s hard to hate someone you loved…someone you once thought was your soulmate. What you do with that person was dwell constantly on what might have been. Yeah, there was anger there too, anger that she’d do that to him. But mostly it was pain. He didn’t have that problem with Kyle. He found it easier to just hate Kyle.

“What happened, Tess?” asked Max.

“How about you do the healer thing first, Max. Then you can play twenty questions,” said Kyle. “The girl is hurting.”

“You want to give orders, Valenti? Why don’t you heal her?”

Isabel glared at Max. “Max! What are you doing? Kyle’s right. We can ask more questions when Tess is comfortable."

The warm glow from his hands on her arm and rib was the best thing that had happened to Tess since she’d walked past that alley. She took several deep breaths, ready to wince…but the pain from the ribs didn’t come. She looked at her straightened arm and rotated her wrist several times experimentally, relieved to have no pain.

She looked back at Max and Kyle, glaring daggers at each other. She had no idea what kind of testosterone games they were playing…nor did she care. There was something out there stalking her….something powerful and evil, and that was her real concern…that and the possibility they’d find out her plans.

“I couldn’t sleep,” said Tess. “So I thought I’d go for a little walk. I’d gotten about a half block down Zia when it hit me…….”
The questions continued for twenty minutes. Tess pretty much told the truth from the point the attack occurred, carefully leaving out the role the stone had played in her survival.

There were five stones, and only four aliens. She wondered briefly if it would be best to give one to each of the others. No, that’d ruin the big plan, she decided. Besides, with five she’d personally be even safer than she would have been with just one or two. Nasedo had told her to never take unnecessary chances.

[greywolf]

4:30 am The Valenti residence, Roswell New Mexico.

Tess rubbed her arm nervously. It didn’t hurt, but it was like it had a memory of hurting.

The Sheriff and Max had interrogated her extensively…but appeared to have bought her story about just taking a walk. ‘Apparently Max and earthlings are equally gullible,’ she thought. Tess still hadn’t really figured out what was going on between Max and Kyle. There was obviously not a lot of love there. She really wouldn’t have cared, normally, but there was something scary out there and they didn't need to be fighting amongst themselves.

Whatever it was, it was powerful, it was mean, and it just radiated hatred when it was near you. At least it had done that when it was near her, so she assumed it would be that way for others, as well. It wasn’t like she’d ever crossed it before, she decided. THAT she would have remembered.

Max had questioned her incessantly about what that entity was, and wasn’t happy to here that she didn’t know. A skin? A shapeshifter? How would she know? She’d never met anyone….anything with that sort of power before.

Finally Kyle had brought her some chocolate and told Max he was pushing her too hard. That had gotten another glaring match going, although Kyle had not really backed off.
‘Maybe he’s not such a bad guy when he’s not tying up the bathroom reading porn…,’ she thought jokingly. Max, on the other hand, was being an ass. ‘So which one do I have to get impregnated by? Life sucks. I want off this third-rate planet SO bad…..I’ll do it, but I damn sure won’t like it!’

Tess had hidden three of the stones in her room. Well, Kyle’s room, really, but she was using it. They’d be safe enough, even if he went in to get something. She’d gone into the closet and used molecular manipulation to put them through the wallboard, between the studs and fiberglass. They wouldn’t be found without tearing the whole house apart.

The partially discharged one was in her left pocket. She’d work on recharging it the next time she was alone. So far that had only happened on her trip to the closet and a trip to the bathroom. The place was a pit again already. She had decided to keep one fully charged stone on her at all times, and keep it in her hand whenever she was outside. Whatever that…thing was, it would surly have killed her, were it not for the warning she got through the stone. That thing was terrifying.

She’d actually considered trying to up the schedule, getting the book to Mr. Geek and mindwarping him to start deciphering it right now, but thought better of it. The supercomputer at the engineering school at New Mexico State University was the nearest one that would have the capacity to do the decoding…anything else would be a waste of time. She decided she’d just have to wait for that bogus student exchange program.

Isabel had stayed with her rather than leaving with Max. Since the Sheriff was a block away, supervising the investigation at the site of the attack, it was decided that a little more firepower in the house couldn’t hurt. Max had gone off to find Michael, probably shacking up somewhere with that obnoxious Maria. They would all meet at the Crashdown at 7:30 for an update, before school.

Isabel had tried to have a ‘girl talk’ session, which Tess had found ..disgusting. She wanted advice on her “relationship” with Mr. Geek. ‘Like I’d give a crap either way..,’ Tess thought at first. But then she’d started to worry. She could make Mr. Geek go on that bogus student exchange, but if Isabel were calling him every week….well, it’d quickly get complicated. So she’d told Isabel that she really thought Alex was just too different for her, that it wouldn’t be fair to her, and it wouldn’t be fair to him either. Fortunately, she’d seemed to have bought it.

Tess looked at her watch. In two hours she’d have to get up to go to shower before school. No, an hour forty-five minutes, she decided. It’d take at least 15 minutes to clean and sterilize that filthy shower stall.

[greywolf]

7:05 am The Valenti residence, Roswell New Mexico.

As Isabel got into the Jeep with Max, Tess got in to the front passenger seat besides Kyle.

It had happened again, Tess noted. Whatever had put the wild hair up Max when it came to Kyle….well it was obviously still in force. It kind of pissed her off, really, all though she admitted to herself she really didn’t understand it. Not anymore than why Liz, the one person Tess really thought might be her competition for Max was now almost pushing her at him.

‘Humans! Who could explain them? Although in all fairness, they were acting nicer to her than Max now. Like Buddha-boy here. At least he was trying to be a gentleman this morning, more than you could say about the Royal Sovereign of Antar.’

She glared at the Jeep ahead, remembering that it’d taken Isabel playing referee before the arrogant SOB would even heal her arm. She shook her head sadly. ‘Fortunately, I don’t need the bastard’s undying love. Just enough of his DNA to be my ticket home.’

As the Jeep picked up Michael, the small convoy of two cars turned toward the center of town and the Crashdown.
Perhaps if the need arose, the four of them together could handle whatever that thing was, she thought.
Maybe.
She really didn’t feel what you’d call safe, but she certainly felt more safe then she’d felt in the last three hours.

Tess slid the charged healing stone from her hand and reached in to her pocket for the partially charged stone. She concentrated hard, and felt the energy flow back in to the stone, slowly starting to restore it. Might as well get it recharged while she could. Having it partially depleted was an unnecessary risk. She could almost feel it hum in her mind as they drove along, oblivious to the idle chatter Kyle was making beside her.



7:28 am The Crashdown, Roswell New Mexico.

“Are you alright Tess?,” she had asked, as soon as she’d heard about the attack. Tess found it hard to believe Liz was really concerned, but it appeared that she really was.

“I’m OK Liz….really.”

“That’s good because you ….. you’re ..important to the group, Tess. The four of you need to stick together.”

“Thanks Liz.” ‘Sure, I’ll stick with the group, until I can get off this stinking planet..’

Tess watched her eyes as she looked at him. They had flitted to him briefly, then looked down. Was it fear or pain in them….she couldn’t tell. She’d heard Max tell Isabel something about Liz not wanting to die for him. ‘Well who would?’ she thought.

But whatever had happened between them, it was giving her the opportunity she needed. But most of all she needed time…..time to get the book deciphered, it would all go quickly after that.

Whatever was out there this morning….it had been powerful……evil. She’d sensed that through the stone. But there was something even worse in the aura of the creature…it was like it was…twisted. Like it was in a hell of its own, and wanted to drag others into it…..wanted to drag Tess Harding into it. She needed to get away from this planet….before that happened.

Tess wanted to think that the power of the four of them would be enough, if it came to a fight with that beast. But somehow she doubted it. It would be better just to go. She would need to see Mr. Geek at school today…..to make sure he applied for the student exchange program.

As Jim Valenti came in the door, he looked at the five teenagers. He was a trained observer and saw at once that it was happening again. Liz was distancing herself from Max. He wasn’t sure just what had gone on there, but the body language was clear. She was keeping someone else between her or Max whenever they were together…Isabel usually, or sometimes Tess. There was a story there…he was sure of it. And maybe he’d ask her later, but not today. Today they had a major problem.

“Whatever hit that vehicle, hit it hard. It wasn’t just the body that was crumpled, the frame of the vehicle was distorted. There was also considerable damage to areas of surrounding buildings. We have a number of problems here. For starters, this is going to be real hard to cover up. There is no good logical, totally of-this-Earth sort of explanation for this. While no one saw anything not-of-this-Earth…except for Tess, this is Roswell. This will potentially raise a red flag with all the alien abduction and conspiracy theory groupies out there….and possibly even the Special Unit. We need to be on our guard for that, not because it’s the most dangerous in the short term, but if we do get a handle on what the entity itself is, it won’t do us much good to defeat it if that leads to people discovering ..the secret. The entity itself is even more problematic. Except for Tess, nobody has seen it. They didn’t see it come…they didn’t see it go. We know it pretty much only by the damage it’s left in its wake. “

“Any evidence, Sheriff, anything at all that would suggest Skins?”


“None, Max. We looked everywhere. A lot of destruction, but no trail leaving, no trail coming. It’s like the thing popped out of a rabbit hole at 7th and Zia, blasted up the neighborhood, jumped back in the hole and pulled the hole in after it.”

“Sounds like one hell of a powerful rabbit, Sheriff,” said Michael.

“You’ve got that right, son,” said Valenti, his face grim.

[greywolf]

0830 Counselor's Office, West Roswell High School, Roswell NM

Alex didn't understand why he was doing this. As he left the counselor's office he was holding applications for both the summer foreign exchange program and a summer computer program at New Mexico State University. Both programs were given at the same time, almost 9000 miles apart. He couldn't possibly go to both of them.

And as he walked away, he shook his head. He didn't want to go to either of them, really. He wanted to stay in Roswell because...well, theat's where Isabel was.

Alex was struggling to NOT get his hopes up too much, fearing disappointment. He'd fantasized about Isabel from afar for so long, now that she actually knew he was alive...had even become a friend. Why on Earth would he want to give that up?

He was even more confused at the library sitting in the study carrel, filling out both applications. It just didn't make sense. He filled out the applications and put stamps on them before going up to the librarian. "Uh, do you have someplace for outgoing mail?"

"Sure Alex.," she replied. "Just put it in the slot. It'll go out with the school mail."

Across the library Maria walked up to the other study carrel.

"Tess, I just heard. Are you OK?"

"Uh...yeah Maria. It was scary but...uh... Max fixed the arm, and I'm doing alright now," she said nervously.

As Maria walked toward the desk the shuddered. Tess had seemed so nervous, it was easy to understand why. Maria knew that Tess wasn't one of her favorite people, but even if Tess had gotten between Liz and Max....hurt her best friend...no one, not even Tess, should be attacked.

"Oh, Hi Alex!" said Maria "What are you doing here?"

Alex tried not to look as confused as he felt. What WAS he doing here? He didn't even remember why he'd come in..how he'd gotten there. Well, it was a library, probably he was just looking for a book.....

"Hi, ....uh ...I was looking for a book, Maria."

"Find it?"

"Not yet."

"Well good luck," she said as she left the library.

'Yeah,' he thought. 'You need a lot of luck when you don't have a clue what book you came in here for......'

[greywolf]

12:30 PM The Quadrangle, West Roswell High School, Roswell New Mexico

Max was having lunch with Kyle. Well, more accurately, Michael and Isabel and Max and Tess were having lunch with Kyle. Max didn’t WANT to have lunch with Kyle. He wanted to feel his fist in Kyle’s face, to hear the delicate facial bones snap, to see the blood pour from his fractured nose. He wanted to knock him down and then to just sit on his chest and beat his face until it was a sea of red, until somehow it would blot out forever the memory that tormented Max….the memory of Kyle and Liz together in that bed.

But as Max snapped back to reality, he knew that wasn’t going to happen. He was going to sit and have lunch with Kyle because that was the only way they could see Sheriff Valenti in the middle of the day without arousing suspicion, and the only way that could happen is if they were sitting with the Sheriff’s son. He needed that information, they all did. So he was sitting there, having lunch with Kyle. Well, he was sitting there anyway, nibbling dejectedly at the edge of the sandwich. He certainly had no appetite.

“Well,” said Jim Valenti. We got a little bit of a break, anyway. The car that Tess hid behind had a propane tank they were getting refilled in the trunk. I’m pretty sure it didn’t have anything to do with what happened, the tank was empty anyway, but it looks like we convinced the press that most of the damage came from a propane explosion. I just wish we had more clues as to what really did happen.”

“Any evidence at the scene at all, Sheriff?”asked Michael.

“Just bent metal and crushed brick, mostly. Nothing we could get DNA off of ,or anything like that. But we are still looking, Michael.”

“Let’s plan on getting together at Kyle’s after school and seeing what we know then,” said Isabel. “Maybe we’ll have enough information then that we can make some better plans.”

‘Just fuckin’ great,’ thought Max. ‘Another opportunity to enjoy the company of Kyle Valenti. Just what I need.’ And even through his anger, he felt the guilt…and the pain.

Because even if he was mad at Kyle, well she obviously hadn’t been forced. It was hypocritical to hate the one and not the other. But he was being hypocritical…he really had no other choice. Because he couldn’t hate Liz…he didn’t know how. He loved her too much. So all he had left was hating Kyle.

He knew as he walked through the quadrangle toward his first afternoon class that he ought to be figuring out what to do about whatever had attacked Tess. But his concentration wasn’t there.

All he could think about was Liz. Even thinking of the good times they had, that was painful enough, knowing they’d never have them again. But the thoughts that kept intruding into his mind were of Liz looking up at him and saying, ‘Max, I don’t want to die for you..’ and Liz through the window in the bed with Kyle.

Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.
—EURIPIDES

[greywolf]

3:35 PM The Crashdown Cafe, Roswell New Mexico

Maria didn't like it, but when Michael told her she guessed it made sense. The attack had taken place on Tess, very close to the Valenti house. While she had no particular love of Tess, it wasn't like she wanted her dead either. Her first thought would have been Max, but it was fairly obvious that Max was seriously pissed at Kyle, so it probably wouldn't do to have Max spend the night there. And even though Liz had told her it was over between her and Max, she could tell that for Liz it would really never be over.

'It isn't that Spaceboy was without fault,' she told herself. 'But at least I know he'd never throw me over for that little tart.' It was best for Kyle and best for Liz that Max not be the one to stay there…and Michael was a logical choice.

Maria sat down beside him in the booth, effectively trapping him against the wall. "You WILL be careful, right?"

"Maria, this is just a precaution. Probably nothing at all will happen, it's just that…until we figure this out, it'd probably be better id we paired up and it's easier for Max and Isabel to justify staying in the same house than it would be for either of them to justify camping out at Kyle's. Since I'm emancipated and have no one to answer to but me, I'm the likely candidate."

"Well you are wrong there, Michael. You also have ME to answer to, and if you aren't careful and something happens…..I'll never forgive you."

He hugged her softly and lifted her chin up to look at him. "Nothing will happen, babe. We'll get this figured out."

She would have continued to object, Maria being Maria, but his kiss caught her just as she opened her mouth, and she rapidly found other things to do besides talk. By the time either of them came up for air, she'd forgotten what she was going to say.

4:00 PM The Crashdown Café, Roswell, NM

Liz watched them go. She really didn't know why she tormented herself like this. She should have just taken her break early and allowed Maria and the other waitress to handle the waitressing, at least until they had left. But it wasn't like she had any good options. It broke her heart to see them together, and it broke her heart to not see him. And the alternative, to let him know the truth…to let him know why she'd put on that act with Kyle, well that would kill them all.

It was destiny, that was all…she tried to tell herself. Was fourteen years of bliss worth the end of the world? Hell, some days she felt like she'd be glad to give up her whole life for just one hour back in his arms.

Quickly she went over to the prep area and started cutting onions. If Maria asked her why she was crying, she wanted an excuse.

[greywolf]

7:05 AM The Parker Residence, Roswell New Mexico

"Who would have ever thought," asked Jeff Parker, as he watched the local newscast, "that we woluld have had a tornado last night?"

"Thank God no one was hurt," said Nancy, as they watched the video on the monitor.

Both adults watched the two girls, their eyes filled with terror, tears trickling down from Maria's cheeks. They were a little surprised at Liz's reaction. They had thought that her brief attachment to Kyle Valenti was long over. But they were really surprised about Maria. She hadn't ever seemed that close to Kyle.

They looked back to the TV screen, it looked like the tornado had smashed in the entire side of the building in back, with football and basketball trophies scattered on the floor and a West Roswell High banner visible even from the sidewalk where the woman was holding the microphone.

• The tornado hit at about 2AM touching down briefly and without warning. Fortunately, the person in this room heard it coming and took shelter in the bathroom..the tub shielding her from the flying debris. We return you now to our newsroom..
  
  Thank you Debra.
  
  In other news, there was a major tiff at the County Council meeting yesterday, over the proposed construction of a Wal-Mart on the East side. A coalition of small merchants and activists came to protest the potential arrival of the first 'big-box' store in Roswell...

The Jetta got almost a block from the Crashdown before Maria pulled it over into the alley. Even before it had completely stopped, the sobbing came. Liz tried to comfort her, holding her and slowly rocking her body against her.

"He's OK, Maria. Max got to him in time. You saw him. He's going to be a little weak for awhile, but Michael will be fine."

"He almost died, Liz. When we got there..all the blood. Omigawd Liz...." She sobbed awhile, Liz just holding her, before continuing, "I thought I'd lost him. I remember when you were lying on the floor like that..when Max healed you. I guess I should have known with Max's help, he'd make it. But all I could think about, Liz, was that I'd lost him. I know," she said, wiping some tears away, "..it's not like I've even really had him. Our relationship....it's been a mess. I'm not good with guys...I guess I've never really forgiven Dad for walking out on us....always been afraid that would happen to anyone I cared about. But seeing him laying there...his blood pouring onto the floor. Oh Liz, I love him so much. I need him so much....and I came so close to losing him. I'd rather die than lose him."

The words and the feelings resonated in Liz Parker, because she too was in love and she'd lost him forever, lost him to save him. And she could have had him, she knew, enjoyed those fourteen years and been content, if it had only been her that would have died. But he would have died too, after only those fourteen years...and she was willing to sacrifice anything to make sure that never happened, even her own happiness, even her own soul.

Liz patted Maria on the shoulder. "It'll be OK, Maria. It'll be OK."
And perhaps it would be for Maria and Michael, she thought. But she didn't see how it could ever be OK for her...not ever again.

[greywolf]

8:00 AM The Valenti residence, Roswell New Mexico

It was six hours later, and her heart was still racing. Tess remembered sleeping quietly, the healing stone cradled softly in her fist. She'd felt it suddenly, just about 2:00 AM. It was evil….evil incarnate. Tess knew evil….Nasedo had been evil, but that golem hadn't compaed with this. Nasedo was a construct…not really human … or even Antarean. And because of that there was a limit…a limit to how truly evil he could be, without just becoming a force of nature. This force had been something else. It had been human, Tess thought….or maybe Antarean. But something had twisted it…turned it into an evil mirror image of anything good…of anything even remotely normal. It had felt like there was really no limit to the evil of which the thing had been capable.

She'd run screaming from the room. Michael and Kyle had gone running back to confront what had scared her, Michael in the lead, when the wall had been blasted in. The metal edge of the window frame had come flying in, scything its way through the air. It had torn into his belly before he even really knew he was under attack.

Even after he'd gone down, Michael got off a powerblast, at least as powerful as the one Tess had projected. They'd had only the vaguest image in the darkness, but Tess had been positive both powerblasts had found their mark. It hadn't stopped it, hadn't even slowed it down. The Sheriff's shotgun had even less effect. If Max and Isabel hadn't gotten there quickly, Tess figured it would have likely killed all four of them. Apparently the idea of taking on three aliens, with Tess's power augmented by the stone, had caused it to leave. But even in leaving…she'd sensed the malevolence in it. She could remember it still, the thought making her shudder.

She'd been thankful to see Max, but worried when he'd let down his guard to see to Michael. It was probably best, Tess realized, to have Michael alive and on their side fighting the….well, whatever the hell it was. But she worried about Max. If that idiot died before impregnating her, the whole deal was off.

As she helped Kyle sort through the remnants of his shattered room, looking for anything salvageable, she was glad she'd been able to salvage the other stones as well. With that creature lurking around, she wanted all the power she could get….