Earth2Mama (very belated birthday congratulations from me too!)
dreambeliever
keepsmiling7
mary mary
AlysLuv
Begonia9508
kissme4ever123
Grace52373
nibbles2 (I've made them so forgiving because they've seen where it all has potential to end. In the grand scheme of things, Michael's forgiving/helping Hank and Max and co. trying to get over what the original Tess and Nasedo did, isn't that hard to do...well, it is, but they'd shake hands with the Devil himself to avoid their past to be their future...again...I hope that makes just a bit sense
.)jojotheorange
jake17 (you know, girl; if my compliments to your writing made you blush, you should've seen my face when I finished reading your comment;)).
cjsl8ne( I have to say that I'm awed that you continue to review my chapters, both here and on ff, net where I post first always. Thank you so much for doing it!).
Thanks to all of the above that took the time to comment on my little story. I hope you'll enjoy this update despite its lack of real romance this time around...don't kill me!
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Michael's POV
The sun was roasting his back mercilessly, beats of sweat trailed down his bare back and connected with the scarcely healed wounds there and it burned, but he barely even noticed. Slowly, his bloodied hands tore into the soil and removed more of it to make room for her final resting place. Next to him, Max's silent silhouette was doing the same and looking every bit as bloody and wounded. Probably even more, considering what he'd been through.
Michael knew deep down inside that, for once, Max wasn't doing the smart thing, they'd just rescued him from Khivar's clutches and his frail body wasn't supposed to be doing anything like this; Liz and Maria would kill him if they knew.
But they didn't and with a sigh that sounded more like a choking sob, Michael slowly reached out and removed more of the sandy dirt in front of him. The two humans would never know anything again…
"Max, Michael; please stop, it's enough now."
Michael didn't stop digging; he could feel the grains of sand itching painfully in the fresh wounds of his hands, but he didn't falter at the pain that was a mere parody to the one going on inside of him. Next to him, Max continued just as quietly, with just as much hopelessness written all over him.
Isabel's shadow fell over them and he could hear the devastation in her shaking voice. "You've been out here for hours. It's big enough guys. Look at yourselves, please…"
Michael looked up at her, the woman he'd married in another lifetime and simply stared mutely at her. Tears were trailing down both their cheeks. The despair in the air was thick. "Tell me what else I can do." He ordered hoarsely, his voice not yet itself after all his heartbroken screaming earlier, "Give me something to do, Isabel…"
Next to the last female hybrid, Serena was standing. Her dark-blue eyes were dimmed with sorrow and once again, she looked a lot older than a girl not even out of her teens. "You're gonna bury your wives," she stated emotionlessly, "they're bringing them now."
Just as Serena finished talking, Michael noticed Eric and Sydney coming with two floating madras' behind them. They were carrying their precious burden with a look of utter desolation on their faces. Not only had they lost the two humans that had helped them all come to terms with themselves, but during the rescue they'd lost the rest of the Unit that had been well enough to help Liz with her rescue plan.
As soon as he took in the sight in front of him, his heart started to pound in his chest and Michael straightened up, "No! We're not ready yet! Take her inside, we're not ready! Damn it, it's too soon!"
Grief was battling insanity inside of him and Michael could hardly breathe as they all came closer despite his orders. "No," he yelled and jumped up the hole he'd so painstakingly dug with his own hands, "go away! It's not time yet, it's too soon! Please!"
He fell to his knees, just as Eric and Sydney reached him and Michael saw her face; now clean of all the blood. She looked pale and wax like, but more serene than he'd seen her in years. It was like all her problems had evaporated with her essence. "God, no…Please…No, Maria you promised you wouldn't leave me."
His insides were blazing, he couldn't breathe and all he could hear was a roaring that echoed his earlier grief-stricken cries of disbelief. Isabel's arms wrapped around his trembling form, but they weren't the arms his body thirsted for and his cries turned into sobs and he moaned out his wife's name.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Michael could see Max's forgotten form, bending slowly forward and remove yet another handful of dirt. He didn't seem to notice Michael's noises of despair, the Unit's presence with their wives or Isabel's slow crying. Through all of it, he simply bent forward yet one more time and took another handful of dirt.
Michael hated his emotionless brother at that moment, desperately craving his numbness. His eyes traveled back on the eerily still form of his beloved. No, No NO!
"NO!"
Michael jerked up from his place on the floor in Max's bedroom. Instantly, he started examining his uninjured hands. He was gasping for air and he could feel tears drying on his face.
A moment later, Max's bedroom door was slammed open and Max came running in. He stopped short the second his eyes landed on Michael's still sitting form. Realization and pure understanding quickly formed in his eyes and Max quietly closed the door and walked over to his bed. "You're gonna be ok?" he asked without looking at him.
Michael was grateful that it was Max that had come running in. With his dream so fresh in his memories, the hybrid didn't think he could handle any consolation from Isabel. Just the thought of her arms around him made him shudder. Max, on the other hand, had been through the same as him, so he wouldn't even attempt a hug.
"Yeah," Michael finally said with a sigh as he ran his hands through his hair, "I'll be fine. Just dreaming of bad times, it'll pass soon enough."
"Okay, go take a shower. Trust me, you don't want to go downstairs to Iz and Mom looking like you do right now."
With another sigh, Michael got to his feet and made his way to the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, he exited the steaming room and walked downstairs. He politely passed on breakfast, muttered something about having to go home to the trailer to check on Hank and left.
In reality, Michael's entire body was desperate to see the moving, vibrant, living version of his love. He was haunted by the last memory of his dream of her unnatural stillness and he needed to make sure that it had all been a horrible dream of the past.
He relished in the bond, never more thankful for it having somehow traveled back with him in the first place. He could feel her drowsiness and knew she was getting ready for school. When he went deeper, Michael could also feel some real concern bubbling inside her.
Oh God, Michael thought and picked up his pace, she must have felt me when I dreamed. Maybe she even saw some of the nightmare too…
Every now and again during their years together, after the bond had formed, Maria had somehow tapped into his dreams in a manner not unlike Isabel's. She didn't stand to the side and observe, she couldn't interfere, but she always just knew what he'd dreamed during those nights where the nightmares had been too difficult to keep at bay.
Eventually, before he could worry over it for too long, Michael arrived at the DeLuca home. He made sure that no one spotted him as he made his way to Maria's bedroom window.
The sight before him almost made his knees wobbly and he had placed a hand on the glass before he even realized he was doing it. Maria was standing in front of her mirror with nothing but a towel on. Her short hair was still wet and to Michael, at that moment he couldn't remember seeing anything so beautiful.
A second later, as Michael's eyes and his very soul were busy taking in the sight of a breathing Maria, she removed her towel and Michael's entire body went rigid.
It had been a very long time since Michael had seen his wife's body. And now in a time where she wasn't too busy to eat and still had some of her youthful fullness, Michael's eyes were swallowing everything for an entirely different reason than before; the tanned skin, the backside that he used to lavish with attention during their lovemaking. Images of some of those times assaulted Michael's senses and he nearly groaned out loud.
She reached out, grabbing a pair of underwear, but just as she did, Maria must have spotted him, because she twirled around and Michael barely dodged out of sight. If she catches me peeping, I'm a dead man, Michael rightfully thought, trying to force the image of Maria's perky breasts out of his mind. He quickly reached down and adjusted himself; it was getting downright painful in his tight jeans.
A few minutes later, Michael decided to risk looking inside again. Through the bond, all he could feel was Maria's earlier concern for him, so he didn't think she would notice.
But when he stood back up and looked inside again, his eyes locked on Maria's. She was standing in nothing but a pair of underwear and a short top, that barely covered what needed to be covered. Her arms were crossed ominously. Michael swallowed, he took in the narrowed eyes in front of him and through the bond it was quite obviously not concern headed in his direction anymore.
Finally, Maria reached out and opened the window. "What the hell are you doing here?" Her voice was icy and quivered with anger that resonated inside Michael.
"I…uhh," Michael was speechless. He had not been prepared for any of this and his mind couldn't quite catch up to him.
"Don't you "uh" me," Maria demanded and unceremoniously reached out and took a firm grip on his shirt and started pulling him violently inside.
Michael let her do it, seeing as he could easily have shook off the smaller woman, and stumbled inside almost landing head first on the carpet. Maria's hand on his arm steadied him though and he regained his balance. "You could just have invited me in," he said, trying not to look below Maria's eyelevel with all his might.
I'm not a teenage boy pumped full of hormones, he repeated the mantra internally a few times while he waited for Maria's inevitable comeback.
"Oh, I could've, but I wasn't sure you'd be coherent enough after staring at me like some common perv! I was naked, Guerin!"
"Shh!" Michael hissed glancing over at Maria's closed bedroom door. He suddenly had a vivid memory of Maria's mother storming in with fury on her face so very long ago. It didn't matter that he'd been through hell since then; Amy DeLuca still put the fear of God in him like any mother in law throughout the universe did.
Maria rolled her eyes and roughly pushed him backwards till he sat down on the bed. "My mom already went to work, she had a few deliveries to the Crash, so stop worrying and start explaining!"
Attempting to act nonchalant, Michael leaned up against the headboard of Maria's bed. "Explain what, DeLuca? I didn't mean to look, but you should consider getting some curtains or something in the future. It's not every guy out there that is as honorable as me."
"Oh please," Maria once again rolled her eyes. She took out a pair of pants from her stuffed closet and put them on, seemingly not caring that Michael was even there. "I'm not even gonna go into the whole peeping thing; in my mind it never happened. And you better forget it too! No, explain why I woke up earlier with tears falling down my face and this weird picture of you in my head with bloodied hands and a look in your eyes that I hope never to see, not even when you're being a complete ass."
Michael's heart started pounding. If she saw that, did she see why I looked like that? Did she notice that I'd aged? I can't tell her the truth; she'd go completely insane…
"Your subconscious might be trying to tell you to hook up with me...in a very disturbing kind of way," Michael finally settled on saying.
He was only vaguely offended by the snort that came out of Maria after listening to his "theory". "Good one, Michael."
Maria finished dressing and she turned fully around to face him. Her expression was uncharacteristically serious. "I know that all of you think that I'm a drama queen or whatever, but I do have my moments of clarity and I know that you're keeping something from me. To tell you the truth," Maria continued and sat down on the edge of the bed, "I don't really wanna know, but I do need you to know that you can tell me stuff, I won't freak out again or kick you in your private area…"
Michael's lip twitched, although the phantom pain from the time she'd done just that told him there was nothing funny about that sort of thing.
"Why are you suddenly willing to listen? I thought that deep down you sort of feared me."
Maria smiled a bit, "I wouldn't say fear you, but I don't know why really. There's just something about you…Besides, like I said, I wouldn't want to feel half of what you're apparently feeling when you think no one's around. Due to some weird reason, you and I share a connection, at least, that 's what Liz tells me," Maria shrugged with another smile and got back to her feet, "and let's just pretend this whole morning didn't happen, okay?"
Michael nodded with a frown; he honestly didn't know whether or not he was happy that Maria didn't want to investigate things further. After a long minute, he finally followed Maria outside and they stopped next to the Jetta that had played a big part in getting him involved with the energetic filled human in the first place.
"Oh, by the way Guerin," Maria's questioning voice brought Michael back from the memories of that night in the motel where they'd started seeing new sides of each other. He fought down a hint of sadness over the fact that it was something that most likely wasn't going to happen in this timeline now that he and his fellow hybrids had already changed things a bit.
He suddenly felt a gentle push in the shoulder and blinked out of yet another fond memory, only to come face to face with Maria's furrowed brows. "Didn't you hear what I asked? Oh, forget it. I just wanted to know why you showed up by my window in the first place this morning."
I dreamed of the time you died in my arms and the following breakdown I had, so I just had to see you alive, Michael mentally rolled his eyes at himself. Okay, maybe not…
Finally, the hybrid settled on a half truth, "I was out walking and I felt your concern so I decided to check it out, make sure you were okay."
Maria looked at him for a long second, her eyes locking on his and daring him to confess whatever secret he was keeping from her, despite her earlier claim to not want to know. Eventually, the blonde sighed and got in the car. "Well, I'm fine as you can see. Now, want a ride to school?"
"Yeah," Michael answered and got into the passenger seat. The familiar smell of it made him smile and he pretended not to see the curious look Maria sent him.
Tess' POV
The car ride to the high school was silent and Tess tried her best not to fidget uncomfortably as they neared the building. She cast a quick glance at the body that her guardian was currently copying before looking back out the window with a soundless sigh.
"It's all gonna be fine," Nasedo's voice stated a few minutes later, just as they pulled into the parking lot. "We'll find a way to get the four of you together again. But first, I have to be introduced to your guidance counselor…"
"Are you gonna kill her?" Tess asked. She acted like her voice didn't shake at the word kill. She'd always suspected that there was something about her guardian's way of doing things that she wouldn't like, but after meeting Max and the others two nights ago, she was almost certain that Nasedo's policy was close to a "kill first before getting suspected," kind of thing.
To her surprise, Nasedo looked immensely bitter for one short second before he answered with a forced calm on his face, "well, no. I think it'd be too big of a problem for our King and his group of human lovers. But," Nasedo's face lit up into a creepy smile, "she might have an accident later if all goes well. That way, I haven't killed her per say…"
"You don't have to do anything but talk to her," Tess pointed out, but quickly exited the car before Nasedo could reprimand her for being too soft.
He's never liked my half human side, Tess thought, hoisting her bag up her shoulder, and why should he? It's weak; he's only trying to teach me to be better; trying to teach me things from my home planet.
Although, the curly haired hybrid tried to think like she knew Nasedo would want her to, there was just something about the look in the other three hybrids eyes that told Tess that Nasedo possibly didn't have all the answers.
Due to her impeccable memory, Tess easily made her way through the throng of students and stopped outside Kathleen Topolsky's office door. She looked up at Nasedo, who'd been surprisingly silent ever since entering the school. There was a hint of pure disgust in the alien's eyes as his sight lingered on a kissing couple right next to him. Tess only hoped he could control his facial expressions enough so the undercover F.B.I. agent wouldn't notice anything amiss.
Of course, I understand his disdain; Tess thought with a small sniff, we are superior to this race and shouldn't mingle with them. That's why I'm so confused about Max and the others. They should know better…
A moment later, Tess regained her calm and knocked on the door. She walked inside with Nasedo at her heels. They politely greeted the pretty woman in front of them and took their seats as offered.
"Well," Topolsky's mild voice didn't suit what Tess thought about her, "I might be a little late, but I'd just like to welcome you to Roswell. It's a fascinating place and I hope that you'll do well here. Trust me; I know it can be a bit hard to settle in, being a newcomer myself."
"Oh?" Nasedo was the picture of polite curiosity, "I hope you won't end up regretting moving to this little town."
Tess sent a mild glare at her guardian, the threat in those words was easy for her to spot. She just hoped that Topolsky wouldn't think the same. Fortunately, the older woman only smiled and shrugged. "Okay, Miss Harding, I've already seen your transcripts from your other schools and I must say I'm impressed. I don't think that you'll have any trouble fitting in here, but I want you to know, that you can always come to me. It's what I'm here for after all."
Yeah right, Tess thought with an internal sneer. Just moonlighting on the side while you try to frame my kind to experiment on us…
Five minutes later, the informal meeting ended pleasantly and Tess followed Nasedo out through the door. A step later, she nearly bumped into her guardian's back when she realized that he had abruptly stopped moving. "What's wrong?" she asked, but as soon as she followed his eyes, Tess knew the answer.
Across the hallway, over by the lockers, Max Evans was standing. His crossed arms showed off his impressive physique, the tight black shirt helped show off his muscles as well. But that wasn't what had stopped Nasedo in his tracks, Tess understood that almost immediately.
There was a look in Max's eyes that promised a never ending path of pain. Tess was brutally reminded of that evening two nights ago, where Max and the other two Antarians had shown up at her doorstep. His voice had been carefully blank and there had been a frightening lack of emotions in his eyes. Still, Tess had never doubted for one second that he disliked her.
He might dislike me; I mean; he knows that we're supposed to be together, but why is he looking at Nasedo like that? Tess wondered.
After what seemed an eternity, Max simply straightened up and walked away without looking back at them. It was daunting for Tess to see someone so openly disrespect her intimidating guardian. She might have grown up with the man, but there wasn't a doubt in her mind that he was a dangerous person to cross. And here there are at least three that don't give a damn…I need to figure out why they're so confident. I'm the only one that's been trained by him after all, so my powers should be a lot more developed than theirs…
"Be careful about that one, Tess," Nasedo's quiet warning jolted Tess out of her thoughts and she looked up at him with widened eyes.
"There's something in his eyes that unnerves me and I do not appreciate that feeling." There was a beat of silence before the alien let out a deep breath and sent her a cheerful, albeit fake, smile, "anyway, have a great day and I'll see you at home, Sweetie."
A few moments later, Nasedo had vanished from her sight and it was with a heavy sigh that Tess started making her way to her first class of the day. Fortunately, the teacher hadn't shown up yet when Tess finally managed to find the classroom, so she slipped into a seat in the back, hoping to go mostly unnoticed.
A quick scan around her, told Tess that she shared the class with Isabel. Her former sister in law. Maybe I should go over and say hi again, Tess thought, ignoring that tiny spark of unease inside her. Out of the three hybrids, Isabel had been the one whose dislike had been the most obvious to spot. Something of a feat that still puzzled Tess, considering that Isabel Evans had a reputation for never showing any emotions, except to her friends.
Speaking of friends, Tess noticed that Isabel's eyes were discreetly fixed on a guy, who looked like he was part of the crowd interested in sports. A jock, Tess believed the correct term was. He's not that interesting; she thought and eyed the boy intensely.
His hair was windswept as though he'd just run around outside before class started. He had an open face and she had a feeling that he had an easy way about him. Although, Tess looked closer, he does look a bit sullen, I wonder what's going on with him?
No! Tess shook herself out of her sudden fascination with the human boy, I don't have time to do anything but get close to my long lost family. Like Nasedo says; I have a destiny to fulfill.
"Hey."
Tess started and looked up, right into the eyes of the boy she'd watched. Blinking, she quickly scanned the room and noticed that people were beginning to drift into small groups. "Hi," she slowly replied.
"Let me guess," the boy sent her such a charming smile that Tess found herself responding before she even realized she was doing it, "you didn't pay attention to the class and have no idea what's going on?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Tess smiled again and decided to introduce herself like a normal teenage girl would do, "I'm Tess."
"Hi, I'm Kyle," the boy answered and settled down at the table in front of her, turning it so it faced hers. "I'm glad you're in this group to be honest; you seem cool enough. I'm not exactly best buddies with the other two."
Just as he finished that statement, an unfamiliar female voice stated from behind Tess, "Yeah, well; I'm not exactly thrilled to be in this group either, Valenti."
Valenti? As in sheriff Valenti? Tess instantly decided to get closer to Kyle, so she had an easy access to the sheriff in town. She didn't get much time to ponder her further plans before the girl that had spoken walked over and nudged Kyle out of the way and greeted Tess.
"Don't listen to the ignorant jock, new girl. He's just a really bad loser," Kyle sent the girl a glare of epic proportions, but the girl either didn't notice or seem to care as she continued with a somewhat friendly smile, "I'm Maria DeLuca and I really hope you're smart, because with me and Valenti in this group, we're gonna need all the brainpower there we can get to pull off this whole project."
"Ah, I'm hurt," Tess had to consciously rein in a startled yelp when none other than Isabel sauntered over to their group and started talking. "I'll have you know I'm not just a pretty face Maria. I'm sure we'll work it all out in no time."
Tess watched keenly without letting any of her confusion show on her face as Maria's features twisted into something that was an obvious attempt at a casual smile; it failed miserably. "Hi, Isabel. Uh, I didn't see you there…Are you even supposed to be in this group?"
Only Tess noticed the quick look in her direction before Isabel answered Maria with such an amiable smile that the surrounding students gawked at the Ice Princess with disbelief, "Well, the group I was assigned isn't really full of people that I can stand so I asked to be switched to this group. I hope that's okay?"
She's afraid I might hurt them! There wasn't no doubt about that in Tess' mind and she recoiled mentally from the hurt that seemed to seep into her very bones. Why do they all think I'm such a dangerous person? We used to be a family; we belong together!
Isabel sent Tess a look that convinced the curly haired blonde that she somehow knew what was going through Tess' mind. She took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. As she was doing that, Tess once again caught the little look in Kyle's direction from Isabel and she decided to retaliate.
If she's too scared to let him know she's into him that just means I can sweep in and steal him from under her nose. Or at least do a little harmless flirting; that way she'll see I'm not gonna stand for this behavior much longer!
"Kyle?"
The moment Tess spoke Kyle's name, Isabel's attention snapped fully back onto Tess and the newcomer immediately regretted even thinking about toying with the human. "I-err…can you help me with what we're doing? I think I'm a little confused? But you don't have to if…Err."
They all heard Maria's softly muttered curse at being the one working closely with Isabel. For one split second, Tess could feel something akin to pity in her gut; there had been such a telling flash of hurt on the beautiful girl's face when she too heard Maria's reluctance.
Deciding to be the bigger person in all of this, Tess changed her opinion with a tentative smile at Isabel. "O-Or would you mind helping me Isabel?"
Isabel blinked slowly and her face didn't betray any emotions again as she replied that she wouldn't mind at all.
When the class ended, Tess gathered her things and hung back so she could talk to Isabel in private. It didn't take long; all the other students seemed more than eager to escape the stuffy classroom.
"Isabel, wait up," Tess called and walked up to the much taller blonde. "I think we need to talk."
"Okay, just as long as you know that I won't fall for any mindwarping; I've trained myself into knowing when things aren't real. So have Max and Michael for your information."
Tess swallowed a lump of dread while simultaneously fighting back her growing temper. How is that even possible? How come she even knows about my signature power?
Isabel's raised eyebrow, reminded Tess that she hadn't answered and she straightened up with what she hoped was an arrogant air about her, "I would never do that without a specific reason."
"Oh, I know that," Isabel said with a tightlipped smile. Again there was something in her eyes that seemed to haunt her, but before Tess got a chance to ask about it, it had disappeared. A second later, Isabel spoke again and Tess lost all her interest in Isabel's demons. "It's just that with your guardian being what he is, your reasoning might be a little different from ours."
"Look," Tess' temper finally snapped and she took a step closer, "I think I've been a damn good sport about all of this. I was so happy to see you, to finally get the chance to know you all. I was the one left behind, remember? I was the one that was all alone growing up with a man by my side that hates my," Tess quickly looked around to be sure of their privacy before continuing in a whisper, "human side. I just want to belong with someone like me. I sure as hell didn't expect to be treated like someone that's lower than dirt. I don't deserve that, Isabel…I haven't done anything but rejoice over finding you so we could fulfill our destinies together."
Isabel suddenly looked like she couldn't quite decide whether to be irritated or guilty. "I…apologize for making you feel like that, it wasn't my intention." The words seemed to be downright painful for the Evans girl to say, and Tess very much doubted her sincerity.
Isabel bent down a bit to speak directly into the smaller Tess' ear, "But if you want to fit in with us then let me give you a piece of advice." Isabel's coffee colored eyes darkened into something that gave Tess goosebumps all the way down her spine, "Let go of that silly dream about destiny. We make our own here in Roswell. Now excuse me for a moment, I need to go find my brother."
Tess looked at the door long after Isabel had vanished from her sight. That's the second time they've pointed out that they have no intention or desire to go back to the way things were meant to be…They seem to be content here in this little town with their humans.
Unexpectedly, there was a sudden image of Kyle's smiling face in her mind and Tess had to fight it off with all she had. She had been raised to be the Queen of another planet; she really couldn't fall victim to her hated human hormones.
Feeling a bit more in control of herself, Tess recalled the look of steel in Max's eyes when he'd warned Nasedo off the humans in their lives. I still can't believe that the mighty Zan is hung up on such an insignificant human. She can't even manipulate the slightest of molecules!
"Erm, are you okay?"
Tess blinked out of her furious thoughts and laid eyes on a pretty, dark haired girl with friendly eyes. In fact, it was the most friendly (aside from Kyle) that anyone had looked at her since arriving in Roswell.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit tired after the whole moving to a new town and school thing, I guess."
The girl chuckled, letting go of her bulging backpack so she could reach out a hand in greeting. "I see; that's hard on anyone, so I won't say anything. I just met Maria a few minutes ago; she told me all about you. I'm Liz by the way. Liz Parker."
"Hi," Tess found herself really liking the brunette in front of her and took the offered hand. "Well, if you've already talked to Maria, I guess there's no point in telling you my name is Tess?"
"I appreciate it none the less," Liz grinned, "and you'll learn soon enough that Maria's mouth works so fast that by now, I bet most of the school knows everything about you too."
I very much doubt that, Tess thought with an inwardly smile. You'd probably run scared if you knew the truth about me.
Out loud, Tess settled on shrugging with a smile. "I'd better get to class."
"Do you know where to go?" Liz asked and picked up her backpack with a theatrical moan of exertion.
"I've got biology, I think." Tess knew her schedule by heart, but she didn't want to come off as a complete geek.
To her surprise, Liz's face lit up hearing her destination. "Oh that's great; I've got bio too. I can take you there. It's my favorite subject."
Tess followed Liz to the class, a bit confused, but thankful however, over the friendliness and openness that the brown haired girl projected towards her. It made for a nice change. I think, that for a human, Liz is actually kind of cool.
A few minutes later, the duo entered the biology classroom and Tess' heartbeat picked up drastically when she spotted Max sitting alone in the front of the class. He was smiling widely and it transformed him from the frightening youth she'd seen to a very handsome man that any girl would be lucky to have.
The smile confused Tess momentarily, is he finally coming around? That doesn't make sense; he seems to really resent my presence. Then she realized that he wasn't even looking at her, at that point in time, she doubted he even noticed her standing there. His eyes were fixed on Liz, who was still chatting good-naturedly with Tess.
In that second, Tess knew just who Liz Parker really was and her whole preconceived notions about the human girl shook in their foundations. This is the girl he risked everything for; my rival. She briefly entertained the thought of taking Liz home and letting Nasedo scare her off the hybrids so she could have Max to herself, but then again; Liz wasn't at all what she'd expected.
In those few minutes they'd walked together, Tess had categorized her as a friend and she wasn't as cold inside as Nasedo wanted her to be; she couldn't deliberately hurt the one girl that had been genuinely friendly towards her.
Max's eyes finally slid from Liz's smiling face and over to Tess. His face turned emotionless within the blink of an eye and she recognized the king in him that Nasedo had told her about so many times growing up. This man will kill me if I even think about doing something he doesn't approve of. When did my life become so damn complicated?
Topolsky's POV
The bell rang, signaling the end of the time she had to spend with the kids that needed guidance and she let out a relieved sigh. I am getting so tired of this. I'm stuck in this office all day and have to run around trying to gather information about the subjects in my spare time.
Kathleen knew that she needed to be able to show some results soon, or else Agent Pierce would most definitely not be happy with her. The very thought of her boss made the undercover agent uncomfortable and she repressed a shiver of unease.
"I just hope this plan works," she muttered, looking down at the questions she'd written. She planned to give them to the one teacher, who had all the subjects in one class and make him pair certain individuals up to gain a better knowledge of their true selves. At least, that was what she planned to tell the idiotic man that taught the class; he would no doubt do as she suggested. He's always staring at my chest and asking me out on dates, so it shouldn't be a problem to get him to agree to this in the first place.
"And then I'll hopefully have something to show to Pierce," Kathleen whispered, biting her bottom lip anxiously. She knew better than most what happened to the people that failed to bring results in the Special Unit. And I'll be damned if I'm gonna be one of those people…
A knock on the door interrupted Kathleen's scheming and she quickly hid her papers, clicked away from the F.B.I. page on her computer and said, "Come on in."
She was a bit surprised when the door opened and she recognized Tess Harding's father of all people in the doorway. "Hello again," she greeted with what she hoped was a somewhat civil smile. "May I help you, Mr. Harding?"
He smiled and raised his hand a bit, "Oh, please; call me Ed, Mr. Harding makes me think about my father."
Kathleen politely nodded, "okay, Ed. May I help you with something?"
"I know it might seem a bit sudden, but I'd be very honored if you'd allow me to take you to dinner, Miss Topolsky?"
Kathleen's instincts suddenly screamed danger of all things. She narrowed her eyes and looked closer at the slightly dorky visage of Tess' father. She met his eyes and all her reservations seemed to melt away in an instant. "Sure, Ed. I'd be delighted."
Ed's lips smiled but his eyes were without any real joy, but Kathleen didn't get a chance to mull it over, because he nodded and spoke again. "I'll pick you up at seven tomorrow night. I am looking forward to it, Miss Topolsky."
It took Kathleen five minutes after Ed had left her office to regain her senses. She shook her head in dismay, I usually don't date when I'm on an assignment, she thought. What on earth possessed me to say yes to him? He's not even that cute.
Kathleen sighed and got ready for her next period of algebra; she was still standing in for the teacher that she'd paid to call in sick for a while. Well, it's just one little date with a harmless little man; what could go wrong?
TBC…
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A/N I hope you all enjoyed this. Expect another memory next time:)
Until Next Time
Ditte Mai
I can't even promise that it won't happen again...sorry. 
